Aang, Katara and a Plan
by MyOtherName
Summary: In essence, Sokka gets a plan to get Aang and Katara together, and Toph helps. Rated for a little swearing and many uberdescriptive fluffariffic makeout scenes. Overload of Kataang, hints of Tokka.
1. Prologue

**So... this is my first fanfic. I have actually been reading quite a few of them so I decided to give it a shot. Reviews would be appreciated, even if they are flames. (anything could be constructive criticism, I suppose. lol)**

**It may come as a shock, but I don't own Avatar. Sorry for leading you on. (in case you are slow, that was sarcasm)**

**Prologue**

He was a monk. A simple monk. He had taken his vows. He was to remain chaste. He was to hold no one in higher regard than anyone else. He knew this extremely well. But he did not care. Ever since he had awakened from his slumber in the iceberg, he found it hard to think of anyone else.

Katara. His sweet Katara. He hadn't told her how he felt, and he wasn't planning to.

'_What are you so afraid of, Aang?' _

'_Aside from the sheer and utter embarrassment or possibility of rejection? Not much'._

It was a constant battle in his head. He was breaking his vows just by thinking of her like this. All he knew was that he loved her. And he didn't care. He didn't care what the other monks would have thought. He didn't care what the spirits had to say. He wanted her. He needed her. But as far as he was concerned, he couldn't have her.

_What do your vows mean now, Aang? Nothing! You are the last of the air monks. You are the last of an entire civilization. Who will scorn you for falling in love?_

_No one!_

And with that last sentence his mind had to say, he knew what he had to do. He couldn't let his past bring him down. He would tell Katara how he felt.

"Hey Aang, are you ok?" Her voice was beautiful. He could have listened to Katara's sweet voice for the entire century he was stuck in that block of ice.

"Helllooooooo! Earth to Aang, come in, please!"

"Huh! Wha- oh. Sorry." He had been staring at her again. She had been sitting across from him, on the other side of the camp fire. He couldn't stop himself from looking. She was always so calm and peaceful at night. He could feel the warm blood rising to his face. In a desperate attempt to hide his blush, he made an excuse to get up.

"I'm going to get some water from the river. I'll be right back." And with that, he was off; not knowing it was possible to get up so fast without the help of his bending.

"Aang! We have 2 canteens full of water!" She yelled at him loud enough so that she could be heard as he was speeding away. She just settled down again and sighed.

Sokka had been observing the whole time, which is odd, considering his attention usually never left his dinner. All he could do was roll his eyes. It was so obvious to him why Aang acts so strange. And while he didn't like the idea of _ANYBODY _being with his little sister, he secretly helped Aang try to get closer to her. If anyone was gonna be dating his sister, he would have been glad that it was Aang. He has seen the way Aang looks at her. He knew Aang would protect her and take care of her.

But it wasn't only Aang. He had seen some of the glances the two of them exchanged, and he knew that Katara had feeling for Aang as well. She was just better at hiding them. But a blush escaped her every once in a while.

"What do you think that was all about?" Sokka asked Katara as he stared formulating a plan to get them together.

"I don't know. He has been acting very around us strange recently…" She was so oblivious to the fact that Aang likes her that it almost made Sokka start laughing.

"Hmmm, I wonder why…?" He asked almost menacingly. He couldn't help but toy with her mind.

She had a confused look on her face, trying to understand what Sokka meant by that. After a moment she just yawned.

"I'm going to sleep, Sokka. Good night."

"Good night, Katara" Sokka said trying his best to sound apathetic.

" G'Night Katara" Toph said loudly from the earth tent she was lying in.

Katara entered her tent and soon you could hear slow, even breathing coming from inside.

Looking around to make sure that Aang was still at the river, Sokka slowly got up. He approached Toph's earth tent and knocked lightly on the wall.

"Hey Toph! It's Sokka! I need to talk to you. Can I come in?" He asked outside the earth tent in a barely audible whisper.

"Sure Snoozles." She said as she lowered a portion of the front wall to let him in.

"What's up?" She asked. You could tell there was a hint of curiosity in those

almost-never-changing-hazy-blinded eyes.

"I've got a great idea, and I need your help."

"Is it about those two?" She asked, referring to Katara and Aang. She had been listening to what was going on outside, around the fire. She could tell a lot about people's emotions just from the sound of their voices.

_Being blind will do that to you, I guess._ Her mind told her. She just shrugged it off.

"Yeah, it's about them" He said with a small amount of satisfaction in his voice.

"I'm in!" Toph said, excitedly. She knew that the 2 belonged together, and she was willing to do whatever it takes to get them that way…

**So how was that? The real AxK stuff will be a few chapters in.**


	2. Chapter 1

**So now we confront Aang's enfatuation with Katara. Review Please!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Avatar, it would only be allowed to be played after midnight on HBO**

**Ch.1**

Aang was sitting by the river bed, splashing his feet in the water. He wanted to try to get his mind off of things. He wanted to tell Katara how he felt, but for now, he needed to get his thoughts straight, so he couldn't be thinking of her.

He looked down at the shimmering glass-like surface of the river. With a small flick of the wrist, 3 grapefruit sized orbs rised out of the water. Then they just started hovering slowly around the immediate area. It made him chuckle inside. He had spent hours practicing his waterbending with Katara. They were never closer to each other than when they practiced. But the one thing that should have reminded him the most of her was the thing that did the best job keeping her off his thoughts.

Toph saw -or felt- Aang sitting by the river. She started to go off in his direction. She was about to put Sokka's "plan" into effect.

"Why don't you just tell her, twinkle-toes?" She smiled. She had been waiting for Aang and Katara to get together for a while now. She had no problem giving them the "push" they needed to get of the ground.

"Wha-." The orbs dropped to the ground with a loud splash.

"Oh, it's you. Don't sneak up like that." He replied, half startled, and half hoping that it _was_ Katara.

"Just tell her"

"Tell what to who?" He asked, hoping that he sounded convincing (although he knew that he wasn't)

"Don't play stupid, Aang. It's totally obvious."

"It… is?" he asked, with a frown sweeping across his face, sounding crushed that Katara might already know how he felt, and worse, hasn't even attempted to talk about it.

"Don't you worry, though; Sugar-Queen over there doesn't know anything about it." She said, pointing her thumb back to the camp site. "It's weird; she usually the smart one. You'd think that she at least recognize that _something_ exists between the 2 of you."

_Good, Katara has no clue that I… Hey! Wait a second!_

"Wait, did you say '_between_ _the 2 of you'_? So does that mean Katara likes me, too?"

Toph couldn't hold back a small laugh.

"And you are just as oblivious as she is. Of course she's into you, Aang. Have you ever even listened to the way she talks to you sometimes?"

The biggest smile humanly possible ran across his face at that very moment.

"So I…She likes…We… oh thank God!" He was so ecstatic he couldn't even finish his sentences. He felt like jumping into the river in pure celebration. But finding it wiser not to, **(A/N: it's pretty close to the middle of the night and he didn't exactly need a cold shower… yet. Mwahahaha)** he just sighed with relief and fell over backwards.

"So why hasn't she told me?" Aang asked once his breathing returned to normal from his fit of excitement.

"Why haven't _you_ told her?"

"I was kind of embarrassed and I didn't know how she would react…"

"Well, I guess she felt the same way, that's why she hasn't told you"

Aang took a moment to take this all in. Just a few minutes ago, he was scared to death of the possibility that Katara didn't like him back.

A few minutes went by and for a second, Toph thought that Aang had left.

"Aang?" Toph asked, wondering what was up with the sudden silence.

"Hmmm?"

"So you gonna tell her or what?"

"I… I guess. I was planning to before you came to me but, I don't know how or when to tell her."

"Aang," Toph said with surprising sympathy, letting out a sigh, "Listen. I know Katara would be happy to know that you like her. As for when, wait until you are alone with her. The last thing you would want is Sokka teasing you. And the how, I'm sure you will come up with something. You seem to be good at things like that." For a second, Toph forgot that this was all a part of Sokka's plan. She really liked helping Aang with this.

"Thanks, Toph. You're a great friend."

"No problem, twinkle-toes!" She let out with a giggle.

And with that, Aang was off, headed back to camp and thinking of the perfect way of letting Katara know how he felt.

Toph sighed happily. "Alright, that's part one. And it went good enough."

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**Flashback **

"**I'm going to sleep, Sokka. Good night."**

"**Good night, Katara" Sokka said trying his best to sound apathetic.**

"**G'Night Katara" Toph said loudly from the earth tent she was lying in.**

**End Flashback**

_Dream Sequence_

"_Huh? Where am I" Katara was standing in the middle of a … something. It was all white, and no true "floor" to speak of. It seemed like just an endlessly large white room._

"_Katara!"_

"_What? Who said that?"_

"_Katara!"_

"_Aang? Aang, is that you?"_

_She could see Aang standing out in the distance. But it wasn't Aang. At least not the Aang she knew. He looked different. Not exactly older, but different. He looked worn and tired. Like he just went through an intense battle. His brightly colored air monk clothes were ripped and burned. She had never seen him quite like this._

"_Katara… I.. I…"_

"_Aang! Are you ok? What are you trying to say?"_

"_I.. I… I love you Katara…" And just after saying this, the young avatar started fading away._

"_Aang? Aang! No don't go! I love you, too!" She tried to run after him but it was as if she wasn't even moving._

_And then he was gone._

"_No Aang… I need you. Come back..." She said in a whimper as she fell on her knees before she broke down crying._

"_Come back, Aang…"_

_End Dream Sequence_

"Hey, Katara! Are you ok? It's almost noon already. Get Up!" It was Sokka, wondering what was taking Katara so long to get up. She was usually up hours before he was.

"Mmm, no….. Come… Come back Aang! I… love you, too… Stay with me!" Katara was mumbling in her sleep.

Sokka was on the verge of tears. This was just too funny. He did his best to keep his laughter boxed up. He was even biting his tongue so hard he could taste the blood slowly running out of it.

_I can't believe how great this is working out. Toph's "words of encouragement" worked great on Aang. Now all that's left is Katara._

"I guess I should let her sleep. She will need her energy if she's gonna get through what I've got planned for them" He said softly to himself.

**So their feelings are mutual... More to come. Oh yeah, and, if you havent figured it out yet, i like to use the 3 dots.**


	3. Chapter 2

**More of Sokka's plan is reveiled, I promise you, the fluff will come eventually. I like fluff. But I feel the need to create a strong foundation for the story.**

**Don't own Avatar. Honestly, would the creator of A:tLA be spending his time on a new fanfic or would he be working on a new episode?**

**Ch.2**

"Your going to WHAT?" Toph was yelling as loud as her voice would let her.

"Shhh! You'll wake them up! Besides, it's not like it will hurt them." Sokka was trying his best to keep Toph calm. This next part of the plan was a bit… extreme.

"You want to drug Aang and your sister! How EXACTLY will that help them!"

"I wouldn't say _drugged_, maybe, 'enforce sleep'. Besides, that's not all of it. As soon as they are knocked out, we pack up and get them on Appa. Then, as we fly over the ocean, we'll look for some small, uninhabited island and leave Katara and Aang there. Let them think that they are stranded and that we got lost. You and I will be on the other side of the island, watching them."

"I don't know... How will this help them?"

"It will help because it will finally give them some 'alone time'. Why do you think they haven't gotten together yet? Every time they are with each other, either we are there, or they are practicing their waterbending." Sokka felt like he was at the top of the world. He seemed to like having this much control over his friends.

"Yeah, but don't you think Katara will be kind of upset that her brother is lost, along with me, Appa, and all her things?"

"That's just another part of it. Aang will be there to comfort her."

Then, there was silence.

"This could work." Toph said, amazed how well Sokka has thought this through. "This evil, little plan could work…"

--------------------

Aang slowly opened his eyes. _Wow, how long have I been asleep?_ Sokka was already moving about, which was odd, Sokka always slept in late. He climbed out of his sleeping bag, and then remembered the discussion he had with Toph.

He sighed. _I still don't know how to go about telling her._ Aang stretched a little then started to walk towards Sokka.

"Hey, look who's up! I've never seen you sleep in so late." Sokka said, sounding worried about what might have caused him to do so.

"Yeah, I was up kind of late last night…" He trailed off and looked back towards the river where he learned one of the most marvelous things he ever knew existed. Then he moved his eyes over to Katara's tent.

"Katara's still sleeping?" He asked.

"Yeah. You both had me kind of worried." Sokka did kind of have a "brotherly love" kind of thing going for Aang. I mean, they _have_ been traveling together for months.

Aang quickly ran out of things to talk about.

"Soo.. Where's Toph?" Aang asked, trying to strike up a conversation.

"Uhgh, probably lying down somewhere. I swear, she can be lazier than me sometimes." Sokka replied. He was trying to get Aang to talk about something else.

_Come on, Aang! Ask about Katara._

"Well, whatever. I'm heading out to find some fruit. See you later."

"Oh, ok Aang. See you." Sokka said, sounding a bit disappointed.

"Dammit…" He muttered under his breath.

---------------------

Katara's eyes blinked open. She heard movement outside the tent and instinctively reached for her bending water. She relaxed when she heard Sokka's voice.

_Wait, Sokka's awake? What time is it?_

Then she remembered the dream.

_Wow, that dream was intense. Aang wouldn't ever leave me, would he? I care about him too much. Wait, did I just say that I 'care about Aang'? Sigh Maybe I do... I had always thought he was kind of sweet…_

"Ahhh! What am I thinking! He is the Avatar! I can't be thinking about these things!"

_But still, those arrow tattoos are kind of sexy…_

"What in the…? Did I just call Aang '_sexy_'!"

"Hey Katara! You awake yet?" Sokka was yelling from outside the tent.

"AHHHH! What the… Oh, Sokka" She started climbing out of the tent. "Ummm, you didn't hear anything I was saying in there, did you?" She asked and a blush of embarrassment crept up on her face.

He held back a laugh. "Um, no…" He started to remember Katara talking in her sleep.

"Okay… What time is it? You've never gotten up before me in your life" She said with a laugh.

"I don't know, close to noon, I guess. Aang woke up a few minutes before you. He left to find some fruit." He replied, paying no attention to Katara's insult.

"Alright, I guess I'll start making lunch."

"Uh-Huh. Hey, do we have any-."

"Meat? No. You'll have to eat fruit like the rest of us." She said with a rather irritated tone. **(A/N Katara seems to have mood swings when it comes to her brother, doesn't she?)**

"Ah, well. I'm just hungry. I'll go get Toph."

"Alright. See if you can find Aang while you're gone."

"Yeah, whatever," He mumbled.

--------------------

_Sokka finds Toph by the river. Lying down, no less._

"So how did it go?" Toph asked when she felt Sokka approaching.

"Eh. I didn't really talk to her. But just before Katara woke up, she was talking in her sleep." He reported with a smirk. "She was all 'Aang! I need you, Aang! Come back, Aang!'" He said while mimicking Katara's voice.

"Heh, what are the odds that happens now, now that we are planning this stuff for them" Toph tried, but really didn't sound too surprised.

"So did you finish the sedatives?" Sokka asked. (**A/N I have no clue what to call a drug that knocks you out except "sedatives")**

"Yeah, I made them just after Aang left last night. It's just a few ground up leaves. It shouldn't keep them asleep for more than a couple of hours" She handed Sokka a couple of vials holding a creamy looking substance.

"Alright. Katara is making lunch now. We're having fruit. I'll need you to create a distraction so I can put the sedatives on their food."

"Whatever." Was Toph's response.

"Ok. Go to the campsite, and talk to Katara, the same way you did to Aang. I'm gonna find him."

--------------------

"Hmm, those look good." Aang was picking some bananas off a tree. He took a few steps back and swung his staff at the tree trunk. 2 bunches fell down and Aang put them in a basket he had chock full of mangos and papayas and berries and such.

"Okay, that should just about be enough."

Sokka sunk up behind him.

"Good, 'cause Katara's waiting for you." Sokka said, leaning coolly against a tree.

"Ahhh!" Aang jumped nearly 10 feet in the air, and came down. Hard. "Owww, my arm! Did you have to sneak up like that?" Aang asked, picking himself up off the ground, and rubbing his upper arm.

"Yeah, I did." He laughed "By the way, are you alright? You've been kind of jumpy recently."

"Ummm, uhh, yeah. I'm ok." His mined flashed to an image of Katara. His blood began to boil up to his face.

"Uhh-huh… Aang, if something's wrong, you know you can talk to me, right?"

Sokka was acting all 'big-brotherly'.

"Umm, yeah… … … … (several seconds) … …"

Sokka knew Aang was trying to tell him something, so he just waited patiently._ It must have been kind of embarrassing, _Sokka figured, _I mean if I had to talk to the brother of someone I like, ABOUT the person I like, I would be pretty embarrassed. Especially if the brother knows about it._

"So… How obvious am I?" Aang asked with a weak smile.

"Pretty damned obvious" Sokka said with a chuckle.

**Fluff is coming up, I promise. Now press that review button!**


	4. Chapter 3

**This morning, after watching the rerun of "The Tales of Ba Sing Se", I learned that the voice actor for Uncle Iroh, Mako Iwamatsu, passed away of esophageal cancer at age 72 a few months ago. I dedicate my work on this chapter to him.**

**Ch.3**

Toph was heading back to the campsite to have a "talk" with Katara. When she got there, Katara was sitting on a tree stump.

"So you're finally awake!"

"Hmm? Oh, hi Toph. Yeah, I had a bit of a rough night…" Katara trailed off remembering the dream. She started wondering what was taking Aang so long.

"Is Aang still looking for fruit? I thought Sokka went to go find him" Katara said in a worried tone. _Stop worrying so much, Katara! If Aang wanted to leave, he would have done it by now._

"Yeah, Sokka left to find him once he told me to head over here."

"Ohh, ok…" Katara trailed of again. Her mind was obviously somewhere else.

"Katara can I ask you something? Something personal?" Toph asked. This caught Katara's attention. Toph never asked about these kinds of things.

"Umm, sure Toph. What did you want to know?"

"What's your deal with Aang?" This caught Katara by surprise.

"Wha- What do you mean?" Katara asked in a nervous tone.

Toph sighed. "I may be blind, but that doesn't mean I'm brain dead. It's just… Why do you try to hide the way you feel? You obviously like him. A lot."

"I.. I've got no idea what you're talking about!" Katara stammered.

"Uhh-huh" Toph said, not believing Katara for a second.

"It's true!" Katara yelled.

"Ohh, yeah. I'm sure it is… So if you don't want him, can I take him?"

"WHAT?" Katara yelled, jumping off of the tree stump, anger seething in her voice, as she stared down the young earthbender. And after about a split second she realized _oh, crap. I just basically told her that I like him._

Toph was suddenly struck by a fit of laughter. Once it subsided, she started talking again.

"Relax, relax! I just wanted to get you to admit it." She said, still laughing a little while wiping a tear of her cheek. "But seriously. You need to tell him."

"I .. I can't" She dropped her head

"Why not?"

"Because he's the avatar! He has a century-long war to end! He has to master all the elements within 6 months!" She yelled out. "He has more important things to do than be with me…" She whispered.

Toph pulled her friend into a hug. Katara was fighting back tears.

"What if…" Toph whispered to her friend in a soothing tone. "What if I told you he likes you back?"

Katara took a step backwards. "He… He does?" She said with a sniff. "Wait. How would you know?"

"Eh. I know things" Toph said with a smirk. "In fact, I'm kind of surprised that you haven't figured it out yet."

"Figured what out?"

"That you are in love." She said in an extremely serious tone. "You both are."

A blush crept up Katara's face. "I- I don't think that were in lo-."

"Katara! We're back!" It was Sokka, Aang was close behind him.

Katara quickly walked over to her tent, pretending to find something she needs for lunch.

Sokka walked towards Toph and stopped right next to her.

"Did you talk to her?" He asked, very quietly.

"Yeah. She likes him. A lot."

--------------------

Sokka, Aang, and Katara were sitting at the campsite, eating. Sokka looked over at Toph, who was waiting for his signal.

All of the sudden, Sokka said "I wish we had some meat…" **(A/N what other signal would you expect from Sokka?)**

Toph started to walk over to where the 3 were sitting.

"Can you think about _anything_ else for 5-." _THUD!_

"Owww! My leg!" Toph pretended to trip over a root sticking out of the ground.

"Toph!" Aang and Katara cried out in unison as they ran over to help their friend up.

"Are you alright? You didn't break anything did you?" Aang asked.

"I- I don't know. It hurts a lot." She acted out, trying to buy some time for Sokka, who was applying the sedatives to Aang and Katara's fruit.

"Alright. Lemme take a look." Katara said, she being the healer and all.

"Okay, just don't touch- Owww!"

"Sorry. Nothing's broken and nothing's sprained. I don't know why it hurts so much…" By this time Sokka had finished applying the sedatives and was walking towards Toph with Katara's waterbending canteen thing **(A/N seriously, what do you call that thing?) **and a strip of fabric

"I thought that maybe you could freeze the water with your waterbending and tie it to her leg." Sokka said as he walked over.

"Wow, good idea. How did you think that up?" Aang said as he was still looking at Toph's leg.

"It was in some other fanfic… I- I mean it just came to me! Yeah, that's it…"

"Uhh, Ok." Aang and Katara looked at each other, Aang making a "he's crazy" face, and Katara started giggling. Then they made eye contact, looking into each others eyes for what seemed to be an eternity.

_God those blue eyes are beautiful. Does she really feel the same way that I do?_

_Aang, is it true? Do you really like me? Do you really love me? Because I love you…_

"Yeah, ummm, I hate to interrupt this moment, but I still kinda need my leg fixed!" Toph yelled.

Then the 2 snapped out of it and they both started blushing furiously.

"Sorry" they said in unison, both to Toph, and to each other.

"Yeah, well, it's ok. Just help me get the ice on my leg."

Once they were finished they helped Toph limp her way back to where they were eating. She passed Sokka and asked:

"How was that?"

"Pretty good. You'd make a great actor" Sokka replied with a smile.

Then they all sat back down and finished eating. Once they were done Katara started to pick up. Toph fake limped over to Sokka.

"They've got about ½ an hour until the sedatives kick in."

"Okay." Sokka walked back towards Aang and Katara.

"We've been here too long, we should pack up."

--------------------

As Aang and Katara were busy getting everything on Appa, Sokka was out around the trees setting up some smoke charges.

"Ok, about 5 minutes left." he estimated how long the fuse should be so that it goes off in about 3 minutes. He lit it and started back towards camp.

"Alright, that's it. Let's go." Aang told Katara.

Just as Sokka made it back to camp, he looked up.

"Guys, look! Smoke! It's the Fire Nation! Let's get out of here!" He said, sounding completely rehearsed, and started running towards his friends.

"Huh?" Aang looked up.

"Come on! Let's go!" Sokka grabbed Toph's arm and climbed up on Appa.

"Great, just what we need…" Katara said as she, too, climbed up on the flying bison.

Aang airbended himself up in Appa and with the familiar "yip-yip!" they were off.

"Alright, I think we're _–yawn- _safe…" Aang said, sounding drowsy.

"Hey, Aang, you okay?" Toph asked, sounding rehearsed, as so much else had been that day.

"Yeah, _-yawn- _I think I'm -_eyes start to close-…_ not … ok… can't stay _–yawn- _awake… Katara…"

He looked over to Katara, who was already asleep.

"What's… happening…?" was the last thing he could say. Then, he passed out.

**I wrote this chapter prior to my knowledge of Mako Iwamatsu's death. Had I known before, I might have had him involved in the chapter somehow. But quite honestly, I want to try and leave the fire nation out of this story. I will try and write a diffrent fanfic in honor of Mako and General Iroh once I finish this one.**


	5. Chapter 4

**This chapter isn't as funny, and it focuses more on Aang and Katara, so Toph and Sokka don't really show up much.**

**I don't own Avatar. (Sorry, I just don't feel funny today)**

**Ch.4**

Aang was laying on a beach, unconscious, the sedatives not having worn off yet. As the day approached 3 in the afternoon, his eyelids began to slowly open.

"What… happened?" Aang had never been more confused, with the exception of the day that the monks told him he was the avatar.

He opened his eyes a little more. "Hey guy's, are you- Oww! My eyes!" His eyes were taking time to adjust to the sudden change of light.

Once he was able to fully open his eyes, he started to get up.

"Where is everyone?" He asked himself. He began to look down the beach, for any sign as to where his companions might be. Then he looked behind him. His eyes widened and he gasped for air.

"Katara…" He whispered, almost as if he was afraid to speak out loud.

She was lying about 5 yards away from where he regained consciousness. And she wasn't moving. He took slow, gradual steps towards her, fearing the worst. He knelt down in front of her.

He sighed with relief. _She's breathing._

"Okay, I need a plan. Katara's unconscious, Toph and Sokka aren't here, and we've lost all our things." He started thinking out loud.

There were some palm trees behind the beach. "I better get her into the shade."

After moving her back towards the trees, he started wondering what happened.

_One minute we were packing up and Sokka's running towards us screaming that the fire nation found us, the next I wake up on some goddamned beach, and the only person with me is Katara._

Those last seven words hit him like a brick. _'the only person with me is Katara'_

"What am I doing? My friends and things are missing and I'm thinking about being alone with her!" He mentally slapped himself silly for having such a selfish and shameful thought.

_Her brother is missing… What will I tell her when she wakes up? I could try and go find them. _He looked over at Katara's unconscious body. _But I can't leave her alone! Dammit, this day is REALLY starting to suck._

He heard some stirring about behind him and quickly turned around to find Katara starting to wake up. He ran over and knelt down beside her. He felt like he needed to take care of her. She had always been there to heal him, and it was his turn to return the favor.

"Aang…?" Katara sounded weak, faint.

"Yeah, I'm here, Katara." He said quietly. He felt compelled to stay with her, to make sure she was ok.

"Where are w- Oww!" She yelled, putting her hands up to her face. He couldn't hold back a laugh.

"Yeah, that happened to my eyes, too. It's ok; it will wear off in a second."

Once she could open her eyes again, she asked "Aang, where are we? And where's Sokka? Where is everything?" She still sounded weak.

He sighed. "I don't know Katara. I don't know…"

--------------------

"Alright, Snoozles. What do we do now?" Toph and Sokka were on the other side of the island, with Appa and all their things.

"Nothing. Now we just watch and wait."

--------------------

"So we're stranded… And Sokka, Toph, Appa, and all our things are missing." Aang had just finished explaining to Katara what he knew, and it really didn't help the situation.

"Aang... I- We need to find them! Sokka, Toph, Appa… We _HAVE_ to find them! What if something happened! WE NEED TO FIND THEM!" Katara was on the verge of tears.

"I know Katara, but please, be strong. Don't cry! I can't stand to see you cry!" Aang said as he pulled her into a warm, comforting embrace. A lone tear ran down Katara's cheek. Aang wiped it off with his finger. She wasn't used to having such close contact with Aang, and she started to blush. She turned her head away quickly, hoping Aang hadn't seen her. But he did, and a blush crept up his face in return.

"We _WILL _find them. I promise." He whispered.

--------------------

"Where will we hide Appa?" Toph was lying down under a tree.

"Huh?"

"Well, Katara and Aang will eventually start looking for us. Where will we hide our things?"

"Uhhh, I didn't really think that part out…" Sokka replied as he rubbed the back of his neck.

_So much for your perfect plan. I knew it wouldn't last…_ "Well, then, I guess we better find a cave or something. One big enough to hide Appa in. And we need to make sure Aang or Katara don't find it."

--------------------

Aang and Katara were wandering around the beach, looking for any clues as to where their friends might be. But there wasn't so much as a single footprint in the sand. Aang looked over the water, and he saw the sun setting.

"Katara, it's getting late. We can't keep this up forever! We need to find shelter."

Katara shot him a glare. "My brother is gone! So are Toph and Appa! We have to find them! We can't stop now!" Katara had never spoken to Aang in such an angry tone.

Aang was startled by her reaction, but he wouldn't give up. "Katara, if we don't find shelter and freshwater soon, we might not last long enough to find them! I know you miss your brother, I know you're worried about all of them, but listen to _me_! We're on a damned deserted beach! Who will save us if _we _need help?" Aang sighed. "What happens if _you _need help? I promised myself that I'd never let anything happen to you…" He said in a whisper, looking deeply into Katara's eyes.

"Aang... I-." She was cut off.

"Let's just… Let's just go find a river or something. We can make a tent out of palm tree branches." He said as he turned away, and started walking towards the trees.

She dropped her head in shame. _Way to go, Katara… he just wanted to protect you…_ she felt low. Lower than low. She had really hurt Aang when she screamed like that. When she looked back up, Aang was already about 10 yards away, and she ran to catch up with him.

"Look, Aang, I'm sorry. It's just… I miss them! And what if they were captured by the fire nation! Sokka said he saw smoke…"

"It wasn't the fire nation" he said, without looking at her. "They would have taken me if it was them. I mean, I was unconscious, so I couldn't have put up a fight." He turned to look at her. They were at eye level with each other. _Wow, when did he get as tall as me?_ Katara thought herself.

He gave her his trademark grin. "We will find them, don't worry. I'll bet there nearby somewhere."

After about a 1/2 hour of searching, they found a small stream surrounded be large palm trees.

"This is good enough. We can make camp here and keep searching tomorrow." Aang looked around for a way to knock some palm branches down.

"How am I gonna get those down without my glider…" Aang thought aloud.

"I've got an idea." Katara chimed in. She took a battle stance and bended some water out of the stream. Then she began to cut through the branches the way they had done to the drill outside of Ba Sing Se.

In no time they had a big pile of branches and began making their tent. It was just barely big enough to house the both of them but it would have to do. Aang airbended himself up into the air and grabbed a couple of coconuts on the way down. Then, following what Katara did, he used his waterbending to cut them in half, and he walked over to her.

"Dinner is served, Madam." He said handing her the coconut. She giggled a little and sat down beside him, enjoying his company.

**Well, I wrote that in about 1 hour. **

**Rest in Peace, Mako Iwamatsu (voice actor for Uncle Iroh)**


	6. Chapter 5

**Wow, I'm churning out about 2 chapters a day... I hope I regained some of my humor in this one. BTW, I don't have school tomorrow so I'm probably gonna write 2 or 3 more chapters.**

**I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender, Momo, Sokka, Aang, Toph, or Katara... But I wish I did. Especially Katara. Lol. (Yes, I'm a dude)**

**Ch. 5**

"Toph, I'm gonna go find the 'lovebirds', you wanna come with?" Sokka was eagerly waiting to see how Aang and Katara were acting with each other.

"Nah, you go ahead, I don't think I'd _see _anything of interest." She said, pointing to her hazy eyes.

"Oh, right. Sorry… I'll be back soon." Sokka started to walk away, in search of his friend and sister.

"I wonder where they are…" He thought aloud to himself. _They're probably lying on the ground somewhere making out. _He mocked them mentally. Then a wave of terror flew over Sokka. _Wait, Aang's twelve! He's hormonal! What if he wants to do more than just make out? Has anyone even given him 'the talk' yet? Oh, crap, this isn't good!_

"Aang, wherever you are, don't even think about it!" he yelled out.

--------------------

Aang and Katara were still sitting around the camp, enjoying being with each other, in a way they never could before. Once they finished their coconuts, they just sat and talked.

"Did you like being a monk?" Katara asked. Aang never spoke much of his life in the air temple.

"It was ok, I guess. I mean, I never knew anything else. My parents gave me to the monks when I was very young. Three, I think."

"Yeah, but did you have fun? Did you have friends at the temple?"

"Well, yeah. I had friends, but none of them were very good friends. Ever since the monks told me I was the Avatar, I didn't really have time to play around. I was always busy trying to master airbending. Sometimes I wish they had waited another 3 years like they were supposed to…"

"Three? I thought they were supposed to tell you when you were sixteen."

"They were. My, uhh, my thirteenth birthday was yesterday." He said with a weak smile.

Katara's eyes lit up. "It was? Oh, Aang, why didn't you tell any of us? We could have had a party for you!"

"I never liked birthdays." Aang said with a dry voice. "Ever since I learned I was the Avatar, every birthday just meant another year in coming of endless training for protecting the world. It was a lot of pressure to put up with, especially for a 9 year old kid. Besides, the monks taught us not to place importance on things like birthdays."

"Ohh… I'm sorry, Aang" Katara said shyly. "I had no idea…"

"Don't apologize, Katara. It's not your fault." He put on a forced grin. "Thanks for the offer though!"

Katara just put on a smile. "I'm a little tired. I'm gonna go to sleep now."

"Sweet dreams, Katara."

As she was walking back towards the tent, a spark went off in her brain. She slowly walked back towards Aang, who didn't see her approaching. She leaned over and gave him a small kiss on the cheek.

"Happy Birthday, Aang." She said softly. Aang tried to respond, but he couldn't move his lips. He started to blush ferociously, but he didn't try to hide it. He just stared deeply into Katara's beautiful blue eyes.

She smiled softly and slowly made her way into the tent. Aang sighed a loud, happy sigh and fell over backwards, thinking of his love, and what they might one day do with each other, as an even deeper blush made its way onto Aang's face.

"That's it. I'm telling her tomorrow." He told himself. At that moment, he heard what sounded like Sokka yelling, and suddenly he felt embarrassed and ashamed of his thoughts about Katara.

--------------------

"Back already?" Toph asked from the cave they found in which they were staying.

"Yeah, I was interrupted by some rather… disturbing mental images." Sokka had an angry expression on his face.

"What do you mean?"

"Umm, I mean- you don't think Aang will try anything with Katara, do you?"

"I though that was what this entire plan was about,"

"No, Toph. I mean if he might _TRY_ anything…"

"What? No way! Not Aang! He's not like that."

"You sure? I mean, he's all alone with her…"

"Sokka, relax. Nothing will happen between the two of them. They're smart kids. And just 'cause they like each other doesn't mean that Aang will propose or something" Toph sounded annoyed.

"Pr-pro-p-pp-propose?" Sokka stammered nervously. All of the sudden he felt anger seething through his body. He ran to the mouth of the cave.

"AAANNNNGGGGGG!"

--------------------

Aang was lying on the ground, thinking about the events that had passed.

_Wow, I can't believe all this happened in one day… I've made up my mind, I'm telling her tomorrow, but how? _He sighed and stood up.

"Maybe I'll think of something out there." He told himself as he walked out towards the center of the island. The farther he went in, the less palm trees he saw, and the more large oak trees started appearing. He made his way to a large group of oak trees, and when he got passed, his eyes lit up. _This is perfect!_ He thought, looking at the field in front of him.

_This is where I will tell her… _As he was making his way back to camp, he could have sworn he heard Sokka shouting his name…

--------------------

"Sokka! Calm the hell down! They won't do anything! Besides, you'll let them know that we are here!"

"If he try's anything, I'll kill him!"

"Sokka! Would you relax? This was all your idea, anyways!"

"I-." he started, but softened and sighed. "I know. It's just… he's twelve.. And she's fourteen… They're both going through puberty and I don't want anything to happen to them. And I don't want my little sister carrying the child of the Avatar." He laughed a little. "I don't want my sister to be carrying the child of anyone."

**This has to be one of my shortest chapters so far. I hope the next can be longer.**

**Rest in Peace, Mako Iwamatsu (Voice actor for Uncle Iroh)**


	7. Chapter 6

**Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing! The number of reviews reached my fav. number(24)! W00T**

**I don't own Avatar, and I have nothing witty to say. Sorry.**

**Ch.6**

Katara was lying in the tent, trying to process all of that day's events. _I can't believe his birthday was yesterday! And he didn't tell us! The monks must have made his life a living hell if he can just ignore a birthday like that. But when I gave him that kiss, he looked so… happy._

"I'll tell him tomorrow…" She said aloud, with a grin on her face.

"(Distant) _Aaaannnngggg!" _Katara shot up. "Was that… Sokka?" She began to climb out of their tent, to find Aang approaching the campsite.

"Umm… is it me, or did Sokka just yell out your name?" Katara asked him.

"You heard it, too? Good, I thought I was imagining things…"

"That means that he's here… And Toph probably is, too! This is great, Aang! Let's go find them!" Katara grabbed Aang's arm and started running.

"Wait! Slow down, Katara! Its dark out and we don't know in which direction to search. If we go the wrong way, we could get lost. Let's wait until tomorrow."

"But… but… they're here! We can find them!

"They won't disappear overnight… I know you miss them. I miss them, too! But we can look for them tomorrow! We don't have so much as a fire to help us see."

Katara's eyes widened. "That's it Aang! Use your firebending! That should give us enough light!"

"No way! I refuse! I won't firebend until I've trained some more!"

"Aang! My brother is out there! So are Toph and Appa! We can find them now if you just firebend!" Katara was starting to sound angry.

"No, Katara!"

"Why not? Have you stopped caring about them?" Katara asked in an accusatory tone.

"Of course not!"

"Then why are you hesitating?"

"Because-!" He was so angry his arrow tattoo's were glowing lightly. "Because last time I tried firebending I hurt someone I care about! I don't want her to get hurt again!" A tear ran down his cheek.

Katara softened up, and she had a worried expression on her face. _Wow, I didn't think he cared THAT strongly…_Then she noticed the tear._ I made him cry? The last time he did that was when Appa was stolen…_

"Aang- I" she got cut off.

"Katara, I'm not angry at you. I just don't want to see you get hurt because of me again." He wiped the tear off his cheek. "I _WONT_ let you get hurt again…

--------------------

"So are you okay now?"

Sokka sighed. "Yeah. I guess you're right. I should trust them. But I'm still gonna go check up on them tomorrow."

"And I'll come with you"

"Huh? I thought you didn't want to…"

"I don't. They deserve their privacy. But someone's gotta make sure that you don't kill Aang if you see them harmlessly kissing or something."

Sokka laughed. "What can I say? I'm overprotective."

"Whatever… Look, we should get some sleep. It's getting late."

--------------------

Aang was lying in their tent, next to Katara, who was already sleeping. He turned his head over to look at her. _Wow, this is kind of… close. I didn't notice how small this tent was…_ His eyes moved slowly over Katara's body. _Spirits she's beautiful…_ _That brown hair, she looks amazing when she lets it down. And her dark, tanned skin is gorgeous. And, oh to hell with it, those curves are indescribable. She's just so… HOT!_

He started getting a little… You know. _Calm down, Aang! Don't do anything you might regret! _He walked out of the tent, and went to the river to splash some water on his face. He sighed.

"I can't go back in there…" He said aloud to himself. "If I do, I might _never_ fall asleep."

He lied down on the ground and started to think about what her reaction might be when he tells her how he feels. _Toph DID tell me that Katara liked me back… So why am I so nervous? _H sighed once more. _I hate hormones… _He looked back to the tent where Katara was sleeping. _On the other hand, there not so bad…_

Aang looked up at the moon and estimated it to be about 4 in the morning. _Well, no point in trying to fall back asleep now… Maybe I should just practice a little waterbending._

Aang walked over to the small stream. He took a battle-ready stance and quickly flung his arms to make water fly out of the stream. With another swift movement, the water froze and quickly broke apart, leaving dozens of jagged ice spears. He quickly turned around and pushed his arm out in front of him. The ice spears flew forward, and all but one met their target, a large tree about 20 feet away. Aang walked over to the one spear that missed. He bent down to pick it up and noticed Sokka's boomerang on the floor.

"How'd this get here?" He asked aloud.

--------------------

"Ha-ha-… dancing sausages…" Sokka was talking in his sleep again.

"Sokka! Get up!"

"Mmm, no, give that back, Suki! That's MY jerky!"

"SOKKA!"

"AHHH! WHAT!" He shot up, instinctively grabbing for his boomerang. He rubbed his eyes. "Hey, where's my boomerang?"

"C'mon Sokka! We were gonna go find Aang and Katara today!"

"Alright! Alright! What time is it?"

"About 9. We should get going soon."

--------------------

Aang was sitting by the river, meditating. He heard some movement coming from the tent and he got up.

"Hey, Katara."

"Hi yawn Aang… How long have you been up?"

"I didn't wake up. I just never went to sleep." He smiled. "I had… something on my mind." He began to blush a deep crimson red when he remembered what he had been thinking about.

"Oh. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Listen, can I show you something before we go looking for Sokka and Toph?"

"Um, actually, I had something to tell you, too…"

"Let me go first. I think you'll like it." He said with a grin. "Ok, close your eyes."

"Huh?"

"Just do it, trust me." She closed her eyes and Aang grabbed her hand. "Follow me, but no peaking!"

"Ummm, alright." She started to blush when Aang took her hand.

They walked for about 5 minutes and Aang arrived at his 'perfect spot'.

"Don't open them yet!" he said as he picked something off the ground. He stood face to face with her, about 1 foot away, and held the item in front of her.

"Okay, open them" he said softly. She opened her eyes slowly.

"Oh! Aang!"

**Mwahahahaha! Cliffhanger! I'm writing the next chapter as I type this so it shouldn't take too long. I'm running out of ideas, though...**

**Rest in Peace, Mako Iwamatsu (Voice actor for Uncle Iroh)**


	8. Chapter 7

**My second chapter today and I must warn you: THIS IS WHERE THE STORY EARNS IT'S "T" RATING! PURE, UNADULTARAED, MAKE-OUT SCENE! WOOOO! Ok, not so much, but either way, it could not be posted as a K+ story.**

**I don't own Avatar**

**Ch.7**

"Aang… a… a panda-lily?" Katara asks as Aang looked deeply into her eyes. Then he takes a few steps to his right.

Katara gasped, and her eyes widened. Aang had led her to an entire field, blooming with the rare flower.

"For you, Katara…" Aang says as he leads her into the field.

"Aang, they're beautiful…"

"So are you." He whispered. She turned to him, and a single tear of joy ran down the side of her face. Aang leaned in slightly and gave Katara a small kiss on the lips.

"Now, what did _you_ want to tell me?" He asked her with a smile. Katara couldn't think of the words. She couldn't even move. Dozens upon hundreds of different emotions were pulsing through her body. She could only think of saying one thing.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted that to happen..." Katara said as she bit her lower lip. She couldn't figure out these emotions. Happiness, Joy, Infatuation, Love… They were all spreading through her body like wildfire. All she knew was that she was enjoying the moment. She had entirely forgotten about Sokka, Toph, the war… Time seemed to stand still for her.

An even bigger smile spread across his face. "If you're anything like me, I would have to say since you freed me from that iceberg." He laughed a little.

She didn't respond. She was still a little dumbstruck, and she still hadn't told him what she wanted to. _C'mon Katara! You can do this! He already kissed you; now just tell him you love him!_

"Aang, I want to tell you... I- I-…" Katara stammered. Aang was grinning from ear to ear.

"I- I…." Aang put a finger on Katara's lips, telling her to stop.

"I love you too, Katara." Aang said, with the biggest smile he had ever worn plastered on his face.

Now it was Katara's turn to smile. "Y- You do?" Katara asked, as if she did not believe what she heard.

Aang nodded, and Katara practically tackled him onto the ground. Aang couldn't stop laughing, at least, not until he felt 2 warm, soft lips press against his own. Then he had a face of total surprise and shock, followed by a pleasure driven smile.

_Wow, what happened to the quiet Katara? _He asked himself, when he found her on top of him. _Must be a full moon tonight… _He mused in his mind. Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted. _What was that?_

Aang heard some rustling of to the side of the field, and turned his head to see what it was, much to Katara's dismay.

--------------------

"Sokka! Stop it!" Toph whispered loudly and violently! "You're gonna let them know we are watching them!" Sokka was about ready to jump out from behind the bush they were hiding by and punch Aang in the face.

"Toph! He's making out with her and they're rolling around on the grass!"

"Yeah, I know, I feel them. And I also felt that it was Katara who jumped onto Aang, not the other way around! So calm the hell down and let them have their fun! They won't do anything! You know that!"

"I know, but, dammit! They just look to… into it."

"What? Like you've never made out before?"

"I have, it's just… That's my little sister out there rolling around with the Avatar!"

"Sokka, you're the one who wanted this to happen! So stop being such a hypocrite!"

Sokka turned around quickly. "I'm not being a hypocrite! I jus-." _SNAP!_ A bag Sokka was carrying caught on a twig sticking out of the bush and snapped off, causing the entire bush to rustle a little.

"Oh, crap! Let's get back to the cave!"

--------------------

"What's wrong?" She asked, thinking that she was going to fast for him.

"I heard something over there." He said, glancing at some bushes.

"It was probably nothing." Katara said eager to get back on Aang's lips. **(A/N Katara's a feisty one, huh?)**

"Yeah… It was probably nothi- Mmmph!" Katara had taken this opportunity to pull Aang back to her, and continue with their fun. Aang felt Katara's tongue moving lightly against his lips, asking for permission to enter his mouth. Aang gladly accepted, and slightly parted his lips, letting Katara roam freely, exploring every nook and cranny. **(A/N somehow that just doesn't sound right when it's about making out…)**

This was something totally new to Aang, him being a monk and all. And while he did often fantasize about Katara, he never expected _this_ to happen. The night before, Katara gave him a kiss on the cheek and he felt like he was on top of the world. Now, they were rolling around in the field making out! For a moment Aang thought he was dreaming, and pulled away a little.

"What's wrong?" Katara asked.

"Nothing, it's just… I had to make sure this was actually happening" He said with a laugh. Katara giggled a little, too.

"Don't worry, it's real." She said as she leaned back into the kiss. Although, this time, it was Aang's turn to lead. Once they were kissing again, he rolled over so he was on top, and it was he who made his way into her mouth, his tongue gently moving across the soft flesh on the inside of her lips. Katara shivered a little.

Aang was now running on in instinct, letting what he wanted guide him in what he was doing. He wrapped his arms around her and vigorously pressed his body against hers further to deepen the contact, and started letting his tongue move around hers. He began to move his hand down Katara waist, and down to her legs, and then come up again to rest on her butt, only to give it a gentle squeeze. _Wow, this is incredible!_

When he did this, Katara let out what sounded like a combination of a gasp and a moan. He heard Katara, and he snapped out of what he was doing. He thought that he might have caused Katara some sort of discomfort **(A/N he's new to this, give him a break)** and he pulled away.

"Are you ok? You made a noise…" Aang asked, worried if he had harmed her in some way.

"Yeah… I'm…. fine…" She said in-between short gasps for air. "That was…. amazing…" She said as she stared into his eyes, and he stared back. Once she could breathe normally again, she asked him

"Where did you learn how to do that? I thought you were a monk." She let out a small laugh after she said this.

"I- I don't know. It was like my instincts started controlling me, and once I started I couldn't stop." He sounded a little scared. He sighed "We should stop now. When I was doing that, I started getting a little… _excited_." He admitted with a deep, red blush. "I don't want to go too far, I mean, we're kinda young…"

Katara sighed as well. "You're right. Besides, we need to look for Sokka and Toph." They both got up, and started getting the dust off of their clothes.

"Let's head back to camp and we can start the search from there." Aang said, as he held out his hand for Katara to take, and she gladly accepted.

--------------------

Sokka and Toph were running back to the cave that they were staying in, hoping that Aang and Katara hadn't seen them. Suddenly Sokka stopped running. Toph felt that he stopped.

"What happened?"

"I have to go back." Sokka told her.

"What? Sokka, I told you, they WONT DO ANYTHING!" Toph was starting to get seriously aggravated.

"Toph, we left them alone making out… We can't just-."

"You mean to tell me that every time you made out with Suki or something, it was in wide view of the public?" She asked sarcastically.

"Of course not! We did it in private! But-."

"So did anything happen between the two of you?"

"No, but that doesn't mea-."

"Exactly! So why would anything happen between Aang and Katara?"

"I'm not saying it would, but I'm just worried about her!" Sokka yelled.

"She's 14! She can take care of herself!" She yelled out, only to find that Sokka had already run off to find the two.

She sighed. "He has a thicker skull than Appa…" and she chased after him.

**I'm running short on ideas… And since Aang and Katara have already admitted things to each other and Yadda-Yadda-Yadda, I fear that my first fanfic might soon be coming to an end! Nooooooooooooo! I'll try and squeeze another few chapters out, though.**

**Rest in Peace, Mako Iwamatsu (Voice actor for Uncle Iroh)**


	9. Chapter 8

**I know I said I would try to get up to 3 chapters up yesterday, but after the second one, I crapped out of ideas. **

**BTW, thanks to "A Great and Terrible Beauty" who gave me the idea for the end of this fic.**

**--------------------**

**I own everything! Mwahahahaha! Except Avatar…**

**Ch. 8**

Aang and Katara were slowly making their way back to camp, hand in hand, and in silence, both thinking about what had just occurred. Just a few minutes ago, they were rolling around on the dirt, hugging, caressing, kissing, touching… These thoughts were almost too much for either one of them, they had always thought that their relationship would never extend farther than "good friends". Now it went so much deeper. And they both loved it. Before that day's events, they knew that they wanted each other, that they _needed_ each other, but neither one of them had fully expressed it until that one day. And they both welcomed each other with open arms.

As they were walking back, Aang was getting uncomfortable with the awkward silence. _I just spent 20 minutes rolling around in the dirt and making out with her, and apparently we are still to nervous to talk to each other. This is stupid. _Aang decided to break the silence.

"So how long _had_ you been waiting?" He asked with his usual grin.

"What?"

"Well, back there, in the field, you said 'you have no idea how long I have wanted that to happen'. So how long was it, exactly? I already told you that I've been waiting ever since I saw you when you freed me from the iceberg."

"I-." She began to blush "I don't really know. I mean, I knew that I liked you since that same moment. But I didn't really feel _this _way until sometime afterward. I think it was when we got to the air temple, when you saw Giatso's body and you entered the Avatar state. I saw how devastated you were and wanted to be there for you, to make it better. I told you that we were all your family now, but I knew that I wanted to be something more." She admitted with a smile, and Aang smiled back.

--------------------

Sokka was running as fast as he could back towards the field where Aang and Katara had been.

"Sokka! You idiot! Stop running! You'll let them know we're here!" Toph had just about grown tired of Sokka's nonsense. She stopped running and planted her feet firmly in the ground, and punched upwards, as if uppercutting someone. A wall rose out of the ground in front of Sokka, and he ran right into it, knocking him onto the ground.

"SOKKA, I"VE JUST ABOUT HAD IT WITH YOUR BULL (insert word here)! This was all your idea! It would really be a shame to have convinced the both of them to open up to each other, then drug them, then leave them on some god forsaken island to get together, and then you come along and ruin it all because you are afraid of what you wanted to happen in the first place!" **(A/N Sokka's plan is really umm, odd, when you think about it…)**

"I'm not afraid! I'm jus-."

"Yes! Yes you are! She's 14! She's a master waterbender! She can take care of herself! Not to mention that this is Aang we are talking about! Aang! You know, the same kind, gentle, wouldn't-hurt-a-fly, protector-of-the-world Aang! He respects your sister, and he would never do anything that she doesn't want him to do!"

And that's when it all hit him, why he was so afraid, why he was so overprotective… all of it.

"That's just it. He may not, but _she_ might want to, and he would go along with it. And he would be happy to go along with it."

"Well, then that would be your sister's decision, and she'll make it if she wants to, and you should be happy that they love each other enough to make that decision together."

"It's a bad decision." He said in a grim voice as he picked himself off the floor, and once again started running to where he had seen the two last.

Toph sighed. _Should I chase him, or should I wait for him to make an ass of himself…_

--------------------

They walked back to the camp in silence once more, sometimes steeling glances from each other, every so often one noticing the other, and their eyes would meet, only to find that seconds later, they were rolling around in the grass again.

"Mmm, Aang... (_kissing_)… Stop for a second... (_more kissing_)… We have to find Sokka!" After hearing this, Aang remembered what he found just outside their campsite. And with a final, long, deep, passionate kiss, he pulled away and helped Katara up.

"Wow, you actually stopped." Katara said in astonishment, and perhaps, even a little disappointment.

"Yeah, well, you reminded me of something I have to show you. Come on, it's back at the campsite." When they got back, Aang started looking for where he left Sokka's boomerang. He found it leaning against the tree he had been practicing on. He picked it up and gave it to Katara.

"Look familiar?" He asked sarcastically, as he handed it over to Katara.

"How'd Sokka's boomerang end up out here?"

"I don't know, but I found it not to far away from the stream."

"Whatever, it could actually be useful. We haven't eaten yet. We can use it to cut down some fruit. Then we can give it back to Sokka when we find him. But let's find some lunch first, we skipped breakfast."

"Alright, I don't know what kind of fruit grows on a tropical island, except coconuts and bananas, if you consider coconut a fruit…"

"Then, we'll have coconuts and bananas." She said with a smile.

"Okay, let's go." He said, as he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and started to move forward, but she resisted.

"What?" he asked her, surprised by her reaction.

"You're not coming with me out there. If you do, we'll come back in 3 hours with nothing but dirty clothes and grass stains."

"Yeah… And…" he said with a sly grin.

She gave him a playful push. "I know, practice your firebending while I'm gone."

"Katara, I told you tha-." She cut him off.

"Aang, I won't be here, so you have no chance of hurting me. Besides, how will you ever master fire if you are afraid to try again?"

"But I don't have a master to te-." She cut him off once more.

"Just do what you did before."

"Katara, I don-."

"Just try, Aang! For me!"

He hung his head and sighed as she walked away. _This must be what they meant when they said it was impossible to win an argument against a woman…_

**Ha-ha! I like that last line. Just playing around, to any offended women out there. And thanks again to "A Great and Terrible Beauty".**

**Rest in Peace, Mako Iwamatsu (Voice actor for Uncle Iroh)**


	10. Chapter 9

**Okay, I noticed a typo that could have led people to believe that the last chapter was the final chapter. In this intro thing I accidentally wrote that "A Great and Terrible Beauty" gave me the idea for the end of the fic. I meant to say the end of the chapter. Well, whatever. Thanks to all my reviewers, ur cool ppl. **

**Me no own Avatar.**

**Ch.9**

Once Katara had left, Aang began to think about how he would practice.

"Squat and breathe… the only thing I learned was how to squat and breathe…" He started thinking about the waste of time and pain all that squatting and breathing caused.

"Well, I guess I'll just squat and breathe." He said to himself with a sigh. He remembered how he had practiced on a small mound sticking out of some water, so used his earthbending to make a small mound rise out of the stream. He positioned himself on the mound, squatted the way that he was taught, and began to focus on nothing but breathing. Aang got bored quickly. He thought that he had been there for at least an hour, but found it to be no more than 10 long minutes.

_This is ridiculous. What does squatting and breathing have to do with making fire? Katara taught herself the basics of waterbending, maybe I could do the same with fire… _

He held out his hand and tried to focus on heat, heat running through his body and into his hand. Then Aang realized what he was doing and quickly stopped.

_Being impatient with my training is what got Katara hurt in the first place. I should do as I was taught and just squat and breathe._

He settled back into his squatting position on his mound and began to breathe.

--------------------

Katara was walking, looking for some fruit to eat with Aang. She had been using Sokka's boomerang to cut the bananas and coconuts down. _I guess this boomerang's not just a stupid toy after all…_ She thought to herself as she looked at her brother's weapon.

"How'd this thing even end up next to the camp? It was never there before… And I don't think Sokka would have left it there without seeing us…" She stated her thoughts out loud. "How did any of us even end up on this stupid island? Aang and I only remember falling asleep. And how does that explain the fact that all our things are missing? And how come Aang and I ended up on the same part of the island when Sokka and Toph didn't? None of this makes sense…"

She looked back towards the campsite. "Before I left the Southern Water Tribe, Gran-Gran told me that my destiny and Aang's destiny were intertwined. Maybe we ended up on this island for a reason… Maybe that reason was so that we could tell each other how much we love each other…"

Katara hadn't noticed that she was still wandering about, looking for food. _There must be hundreds or thousands of palm trees on this island, but apparently none of them have coconuts… That doesn't make sense, either…_

--------------------

"Huh? Where are they?" Sokka had gotten back to the field full of panda-lilies to find that Aang and Katara had left.

"I told you they wouldn't do anything out here." Toph was slowly walking towards Sokka.

"I thought you were going to stay at the cave…"

"I told you, if I'm not there to hold you back, you'll decapitate Aang for holding Katara's hand."

"Decapitate him with what? My boomerang is still missing."

"When did you have it last?"

"I think it was last night, I was walking around looking for Aang and Katara, and I was going to make a mark on a tree with it so I could find my way back, that's when I had those, uhh… mental images… and I started to go back to the cave."

"Then you must have left it by the tree. Let's go find it. You need something to help you stop thinking about your sister."

"Uhhh, ok. Why are you suddenly acting so nice?"

"Because apparently yelling isn't enough to get through to you, Snoozles. Maybe being nice will help. I've never tried it before." Toph told him with a smirk.

--------------------

_Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out… _Aang was repeating this in his mind, trying to stay focused on his body heat. _Breathe in, breath out. _He could feel something in his chest. It was warm, like a campfire. He realized this was also the way he felt when he was with Katara. _I guess it's a good thing… It does feel like fire… _He let his arms drop to his side and he continued repeating the mantra in his head. _Breathe in, breathe out. _

"Oh my! Aang!" Katara had just gotten back from gathering fruit.

Aang opened his eyes. "Oh, hey Katara!"

"Aang… Your hands… Your arms…" Katara said, just above a whisper.

"Huh?" Aang pulled his hands up to his face. "Ahhh!" Aang jumped up and fell onto his mound. Both his hands had large flames coming out of them, engulfing them; rising up his arms and the sleeves of his shirt had been burnt off. He quickly jumped into the river to douse his hands.

"A-Aang… What was that? Were you just firebending?"

"I don't know… I didn't even feel the fire while I was squatting and breathing. In fact, it doesn't even feel like I got burnt." He looked at his burnt sleeves, and then at his arms, which were completely unharmed.

Katara started to walk towards him. "Wait! Don't come too close." Aang called out to her.

"Aang, I know you are worried about hurting me, but-."

"Just, hold on a second. I want to try something, don't get too close." He raised his right hand up and stared at it, concentrating once more on his breathing. Within seconds, a fire appeared in the palm of his hands. He clenched his hand into a fist, and punched downwards, towards the water. The fire shot forward, flying into the water, disappearing with a _pffffft _as steam rose out of the water.

"I- I just… fire shot from my… I just firebended…" Aang was still starring at his hand in awe.

Katara shouted in a gleeful tone. "See, Aang? I told you that you could do it!" She ran toward him, dropping their lunch, and she wrapped her arms around him in a warm embrace. Aang kissed her lightly and let go, walking towards their food, but she grabbed his arm as he walked away and gave him a strong punch.

"Owww! What the heck was that for?" he asked, rubbing his arm.

"That was for arguing with me when I told you to practice." She had somewhat of an annoyed expression on her face. "Good things happen when you listen to me." She added with a smirk.

He lightly kissed her again, and then kissed her once more, but more passionately this time. "You know I love you, right?"

She leaned in and kissed him back. "Yes, did you know that I love you?"

"I had a feeling that you did…" He said with his usual grin. He took a step back, but took her hands in his. "Let's eat lunch, and we'll go find Sokka when we finish."

--------------------

"Okay, I think it was right around here." Sokka and Toph were looking for the boomerang. "That's weird; here is the tree with the marking. Where's my boomerang?" Sokka started to look around the area for any signs as to where his boomerang might be. He saw a small stream and started to walk towards it, and then saw a tent made of palm tree branches.

"What the heck… Was that there last night?" Sokka moved a little closer to it to investigate, but then heard Aang and Katara's voices coming from the direction of the stream. He heard Katara shouting.

"_(Distant) See, Aang? I told you that you could do it!" _Sokka saw Katara run up to Aang and hug him, and then Aang gave her a small kiss.

"Grrrr…" Sokka started grumbling at the sight, but Toph put a hand on his shoulder, signaling him to calm down.

"Look, let's go back to the cave. If you got worked up by a small kiss, you won't want to be around if they start making out again."

**Whew, I finished this chapter at the last minute. And I have maintained my updates to at east 1 per day for 10 chapters. w00t!**

**Rest in Peace, Mako Iwamatsu (Voice Actor for Uncle Iroh)**


	11. Chapter 10

**This chapter is a bit short, it is basically Aang and Katara remembering some of their more heart warming moments from episodes that have already aired. Inspired by the fact that I just finished watching "The Fortuneteller"**

**Nope, don't own it.**

**Ch.10**

Aang and Katara were sitting in their campsite eating their lunch. Aang was still having a hard time believing that he just firebended, and he wouldn't stop talking about it. Katara mostly wasn't listening to Aang's rambling; she was busy thinking about what she had said to herself before about Aang and her and their destiny.

"…but it's weird because I didn't even feel the fire… and how come the fire just appeared now when it didn't do it the last time I practiced firebending? Last time it only happened when the fire spread through the stupid leaf…" Eventually Aang looked over at Katara, who was staring into nothingness, lost in her own thoughts.

"Are you okay?" Aang started waving his hand in front of Katara's face to get her attention.

"Huh? What?"

"Uhhh, you were just staring out into nowhere… Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm alright. Thanks for your concern though." Aang could tell she had something on her mind, but he wasn't going to try and force it out, she would tell him eventually. So in response, he just gave her his usual wide grin.

What Aang didn't expect was that "eventually" would come so quickly.

"Remember when Gran-Gran told us that our destinies were intertwined?"

"Yeah, just before we left the South Pole."

"Well, maybe this whole thing about you and me finally together has something to do with it." Katara was still staring out into the trees. "I'm glad that it happened, but what about all the time in-between?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, like the time on Kyoshi. You told me that you fell for me the second you saw me, so what happened on Kyoshi, with all the girls and the attention?"

"Most of it was to get _your _attention…" He still didn't feel comfortable talking about how he had always tried to get close to her, even if it was just through a simple conversation. "I know I was being a jerk, but I wouldn't ride on a giant killer sea monster for anyone. Only you." He said with a big smile.

Katara now looked at Aang, and smiled back. "How about the town with the fortune teller?" She asked.

"Huh?"

"The necklace you made. The one to replace mine. Why did you make it but you didn't tell me how you felt?"

"That's just it. I was kind of hoping that you would get the idea." He laughed a little. "And then you called me a 'good friend', like Momo." He laughed some more. "And speaking of the fortune teller… Did you ever learn the name of your 'powerful bender'?"

"So it _was _you that I heard listening in on my reading… And, yes, I think I did find out who it is." She leaned in and gave him a light kiss.

"Who?" He asked her, joking.

Katara rolled her eyes. "You, Aang!" She leaned in and kissed him some more, and he kissed back, eventually once again ending up on the ground, rolling about, and Katara eventually having to push Aang away for air.

Once she could breathe normally, she returned to their conversation. "What about in the Cave?"

"Oh, you mean the… kiss…"

"Aang, we just spent 10 minutes rolling around making out, you don't have to sound so embarrassed."

"I'm not embarrassed by the kiss; I'm embarrassed about what I said in the cave… about the kiss."

"Oh, yeah… So why did you say that, anyways?"

"Well, when you suggested that we kissed, I was actually really wanted it to happen. Maybe a little too much, so I tried to seem less eager. And I accidentally said some things I didn't mean… And I have to be honest with you, when we did kiss, it was one of the best moments of my life." He looked deeply into her eyes, smiling like he always did.

"How about the desert?"

"Uhgh… I knew you would get there eventually. Look, when we were in the desert and Appa got stolen, I wasn't thinking straight. And when I entered tha Avatar State and destroyed all those Sandbender's things, I realized that it only happened because I was emotionally attached to Appa. So to avoid ever doing that again, I tried to block out all emotion, even my feelings for you…"

Katara didn't know how to respond, so she just nodded. She knew that Aang had been going through tough times at the moment, and she was glad that they were over.

Then Katara's eyes lit up, remembering some more good times. "How about when me and Toph came back from buying dresses for the ball in Ba Sing Se? When you saw me you said I looked beautiful… And then you got one of the biggest blushes I've ever seen!"

Aang laughed a little. "Yeah, and then Sokka flicked me upside the head…" Then they both started laughing.

They continued to eat their lunch while reminiscing on their closer moments with each other.

--------------------

Sokka and Toph were walking back to their cave, Sokka doing a surprisingly better job at restraining himself from running back towards Aang and Katara. When they got back to the cave, Toph finally decided to speak up.

"See, it wasn't so hard, was it?"

"Actually, yeah it was. The only thing keeping me from going back was that Katara seemed really happy with Aang. And I didn't want to run into another one of your walls." Sokka said, rubbing a bump on his head he got from the first time Toph pulled the wall trick on him.

"Well, then let's keep your mind off of them. Let's see… We are on a deserted, uncharted island… What can we do for fun…?"

Sokka pondered on this for a second and then got an idea. He got in his sleeping bag.

"You're gonna go to sleep?" Toph asked dryly and irritated.

"What? It's fun for me! Besides, I never get to sleep during the day anymore!" He turned over so his back faced Toph.

_Hmmm, I guess he's right. I haven't been able to just lie around since I joined this crazy group…_

She let herself fall onto her back and enjoyed the small vacation they have just received.

**Okay, not much to say here in the footer thingy. Uhhh… Thanks for reviewing!**

**Rest in Peace, Mako Iwamatsu (Voice Actor for Uncle Iroh)**


	12. Chapter 11

**This is the first time I missed my update deadline… I am ashamed. **

**I know I said that I wanted to try and leave the Fire Nation out of this, but I had this idea and I couldn't shake it off…**

**Do I even have to say it? I do? Fine. I don't own Avatar**

**Ch.11**

Aang and Katara had finished their reminiscing and Katara once again fell into her thoughts. She had begun thinking of that dream that she had a few nights ago…

_It was probably nothing, just a bad dream… But in the dream, Aang said he loved me, and he said it before I knew about it. And than he just left… er… faded away. What does that even mean? Could it mean that Aang would leave? It looked like Aang was in a big fight… Could it mean that he would die? No! I wouldn't be able to handle it if he did…_

"Aang?" Katara sounded distant… and a little scared.

"What's wrong?" He asked, instantly picking up the distressed sound of her voice.

"What would happen if… I mean, it might not happen… but if you…" Katara had tears welling up in her eyes, she couldn't find the words. She was too afraid to say them aloud.

"Katara, whatever it is, you can tell me. I'll always be here for you."

That's when Katara started crying. "That's just it! What if you're not always here? What if you have to leave? What if you… die…?"

Aang pulled her into a comforting hug. "Katara, don't think like that. I'll always be with you. And I won't go anywhere without you." Aang was speaking softly to her, trying to calm her down. "I'm not going anywhere. I promise."

--------------- (Several minutes later)

Aang and Katara had finished eating their lunch, Katara's mood lifted by Aang's comforting words, and were getting ready to look for Sokka, Toph and Appa.

"If they are smart, they would be inland." Aang was thinking of where to start looking.

"Yeah, but Sokka's not smart." Katara laughed at her own remark.

"He's much smarter than you give him credit for. He's just… kind of slow." Aang tried to sound serious but noticed that Katara was trying to hold back her laughter by the scrunched up look on her face, and then Aang exploded into laughter himself. "Okay, maybe Sokka can be a little dumb, but he's still smarter than you say. And Toph should be with him, so she has probably made sure that they are alright."

"Yeah, you're right. I guess Sokka has proved his intelligence at least a _few _times since we left from the tribe." She once again laughs at her own comment. "What do you think they are doing now?"

"Let's see, it's high noon, and we are talking about Sokka and Toph… They're probably still eating… Or still sleeping." This time it was Aang's turn to laugh, and Katara did as well. "Either way, we should get going. Now, I think I heard Sokka yelling off in this direction…"

--------------------

**(A/N Just for the sake of including them...)**

Sokka and Toph were still fast asleep in their cave, Sokka in his sleeping back and Toph on a big rock.

--------------------

As the two started to leave their camp, Aang suddenly felt the need to look back. As he scanned the area, he saw smoke rising up, towards the sky.

"Katara, look! Smoke! You think it could be Sokka?"

"It might be… Sokka could have made a campfire… But it would have to be a big fire to make that much smoke."

Aang went silent for a moment, and his eyes widened. "Could be the Fire Nation?"

Katara nodded in response.

"Should we check it out or stay here?"

"I- I think we should go see it. Sokka could have had the same idea that we did, and he could be walking right into whatever is going on over there." Katara said, worried for her brother.

The two made their way towards the smoke, which was coming from the coast. They hid just behind the tree line, trying to see what was going on. Aang peeked his head around a tree, to get a better look.

"It's a Fire Nation ship!" (**A/N Not Zuko's, he's still in Ba Sing Se somewhere)**

"Is Sokka there?"

Aang looked around. "No. Nobody's there. Not even any guards."

"Let's go check it out."

"Okay. I'll run ahead and make sure that it is clear. You stay here until I give you a signal."

Aang made his way towards the ship, Katara still waiting by the trees, trying to remain silent so no one could hear him approaching. Once he got close enough, Aang motioned for Katara to come. Not looking back to make sure she was there, he waited what seemed like the appropriate amount of time for her to arrive.

"None of the hatches are open. I'll lift you up to the railing" He told her, not taking his eyes off the ship.

She didn't respond.

"Katara?" He turned around to find that she was gone. "KATARA!" _Where is she? There was no one else out here!_

He looked back to the tree line and saw some Fire Nation soldiers disappear behind some trees. Aang ran towards them as fast as he could, and followed them. He made it past a clearing and had to hold back a gasp. Katara was tied to a tree and being interrogated by a soldier.

"We know you travel with the Avatar. Now tell us! Where is he?"

"I have no clue what you are talking about!" Katara yelled at the soldier, and he slapped her across the face. Aang was seething with anger. There were too many soldiers. How would he save her?

"I'm only going to ask you one more time! WHERE IS HE?"

Katara remained silent.

"Fine." The soldier moved closer to Katara and held his hand out in front of her, a flame appearing in his hand. "I warned you. Now you'll see what happens to prisoners who don't comply!" He moved his hand back, ready to give Katara a devastating blow.

Aang couldn't take it anymore. He used his airbending to jump out from behind his hiding spot and landed in-between Katara and the soldier, using the opportunity to cut through the rope restraining Katara with a powerful gust of wind that seemed to come out of nowhere.

"Leave her alone!" Aang yelled, his voice backed by the voiced of predecessors.

The soldier had a smug look on his face. "Well, look who showed up! It's the Avatar!"

"I said leave her alone! Back Away!"

The soldier laughed. "You are outnumbered 20 to 1. You have no chance. You would risk everything for this… Water Tribe peasant?" The soldier spit at Katara.

Katara's eyes went black. She quickly uncorked the cap of her canteen and was ready to fight. She drew her arm back, ready to pull out the water and whip the man across the face, but Aang grabbed her arm and lowered it.

"Katara, go back and hide. Make sure nobody follows you! I'm staying here." Aang's tattoos were starting to glow.

"Aang… you said you would never leave me alone…" Katara whispered so that only Aang could hear.

"Please Katara! You don't want to see what is about to happen here!" Aang's eyes were starting to glow as well.

All the soldiers shifted uncomfortably after hearing this.

Katara seemed to understand because her eyes widened at his statement. She began to feel her necklace, her reminder of her mother, who was brutally killed by the Fire Nation, and she began to cry a little.

"Okay, I'll go. But please! Don't kill them! No one deserves to die that way, no mater what they have done!" She gave and her waterbending canteen and made her way out, and no one showed her any resistance.

"Now I'm outnumbered 40 to 1. I'll give you all a chance. Anyone who does not want to suffer indescribable pain, return to your ship now!" Aang's voice still backed by those of the past Avatars.

All of the soldiers, except their leader, looked at each other, and without a word being said, began to retreat.

"I'll still give you a chance. If you leave now, you will not be harmed!"

The man took a defensive stance and prepared for attack.

"So be it." Aang said and used his earthbending to make four walls rise from the ground, leaving the soldier trapped with an angry Avatar in a 100 foot by 100 foot room.

**That was a longer chapter… I'll leave it there for now. If you want a fight scene in the next chapter, tell me in the reviews.**

**Rest in Peace, Mako Iwamatsu (Voice Actor for Uncle Iroh)**


	13. Chapter 12

**Sorry the update took so long. I usually would update faster but this was my first fight scene and I just couldn't find the right words. It still leaves me a little disappointed in my efforts. There really isn't any fluff, just a big fight.**

**Whatever, like I said, this is my first fight scene, and I hope it is alright. I just imagined what a fight in my Kung-Fu class would look like (mixed in with some magic-y special effects) and I tried to put it to words. I hope it came out ok.**

**Unless the definition of "ownership" changed over the past few days, I still don't own Avatar.**

**Ch.12**

There was fear in the Fire Nation soldier's eyes. He knew it was unlikely that he would make it out of this. Aang had entered the Avatar State, and was prepared to beat the man to a pulp.

Aang simply stood there, his eyes glued to the soldier, with Katara's request ringing in his ears. Aang would not kill him but, damn it, he would suffer for what he did. The man had restrained her, interrogated her, insulted her, and threatened her very life. He would pay for what he did to the Avatar's greatest love.

The soldier was waiting for the Avatar to make the first move, but Aang just stood there, and it was making the soldier nervous.

"Are you a coward? Attack me! Now!"

Aang simply raised his glowing eyes, so they would meet with the eyes of the Fire Nation soldier. Aang didn't say anything. He barely even moved. But with the expression in his eyes, no words were necessary. His eyes were full of anger. Rage. Hatred. Disgust. And most of all, pity. The man did not know what he was in for.

"I'll give you one another chance. You have the choice to return to your vessel. If you value the use of your body, you will take that chance." The voices of Aang's predecessors backed his own.

"I will not leave. The others have tainted their honor by retreating. I won't do the same."

"You dare speak about honor? You were about to savagely kill a defenseless girl. The girl I love. What honor is there in such an action?"

The soldier remained silent.

"You have no honor. The Nation you fight for has no honor. It lost it when Fire Lord Sozin ascended the throne. And it remains lost with Fire Lord Ozai. This is your final warning. Leave in peace now and you might go through life with the full use of your limbs."

Still no response.

"Very well. If you refuse to value your life, you might as well strike first" Aang stood at ease, waiting for the soldier to attack.

--------------------

Katara was walking along the sandy shore, constantly looking back to make sure she was alone. The Fire Nation ship was not too far off, but all the soldiers had to know better than to try to take her again. She turned around for a moment, wondering what Aang would do to them. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the group of soldiers walking towards there ship. But she also saw that their leader wasn't there with them.

_Poor son of a bitch, Aang's gonna destroy the guy. I can't believe how angry Aang was. And it was all because of how he feels for me. Even if the odds seemed immensely against him at the time, he'd do anything to keep me safe…_

Katara decided to go and wait by the camp, because she figured Aang was right. She didn't want to see what was about to happen.

--------------------

The soldier remained still.

"I'm waiting for your attack, _sir_" Aang was still standing at ease, trying to coax the attack out of the Fire Nation soldier. "You know, fire bending is a positive jing style. Wouldn't it be against your 'honor' to await the first strike?" Aang spat out the word honor as if it was the most vile and putrid word in existence.

The soldier was gritting his teeth. He knew that the Avatar was simply trying to get him to attack by getting him aggravated… And it was working. Firebenders are known to have short tempers. "Fine. You want me to throw the first punch? Then fight fairly and let the child be the one I fight. This is because he loves that girl, so this is because of him."

Aang's consciousness must have heard what the soldier had to say because, slowly, the glow of his tattoo's and eyes began to diminish. Once Aang was back in control of his body, he stared back up at the soldier, with almost as much, if not more, hatred than he had before. "You wanted a fair fight, now you've got it. But I guarantee you, you still don't stand a chance."

The soldier just smirked. "You wanted me to throw the first punch?" He was getting into a battle stance, hands extended outwards, ready to blast fire towards the young airbender. Aang airbended his staff up off the floor and into his hand, ready for the attack. They circled each other for a few moments, looking into each others eyes, anticipating each others movements. "I guess I will then!"

The Fire Nation soldier punched his hand foreword, sending a ball of fire hurling in Aang's direction. Aang easily deflected it with his staff, spinning it in a clockwise motion, sending the fireball flying off towards the left wall. The soldier quickly jabbed 3 times, sending 3 smaller, yet faster, fireballs hurling at Aang. He charged towards the 3 flaming balls swinging his staff down overhead until it was barely an inch from the ground, causing a powerful blast of wind that cooled the fire, and the 3 balls simply disappeared. With his staff so close to the ground, he jabbed it into the dirt, and wedged it up quickly, casing dirt and rocks to fly upwards. Aang used his earthbending to mold it all together into a giant mesh of rock and dirt, and hurled it towards the soldier.

The soldier strafed to his right, swinging his left leg upwards and then downwards, creating an arch shaped blast of fire that met with the mesh, causing it to disassemble, and once again became nothing but dirt and lumps of stone. The soldier took a strong step foreword, planting his right foot on the ground in-front of him, and pushed both fists foreword, creating streams of fire that shot towards Aang. Aang also planted his feet on the ground, and then he uppercutted with both his fists, creating a small wall made of broken rocks and gravel to appear in front of him. It served to shield him from the flames until the soldier returned to launching fireballs at him. Slowly, Aang's protective barrier began breaking away. Before anymore damage could be done to his wall, he punched the wall hard, and made all the rocks that created that wall fly towards the soldier. He expertly dodged every one of them, and then ran towards the young airbender. He jumped up into the air, and kicked a few fireballs towards the Avatar. Aang bended a dome-like barrier of air around him, and the fireballs dissipated as soon as they touched the surface.

The soldier looked up. He was sweating heavily. He moved his sight to the Avatar, who was standing there, his staff at his side, and didn't even appear to be out of breath. Aang could have easily won the duel in the time they had been fighting, but he was holding back for some reason.

"My offer still stands. But this is your final warning. If you return now, you will leave unharmed. If you refuse, I promise you, I won't hold back anymore."

"Nghnn…" The soldier grunted, still trying to regain his breath. He knew that he would loose, but he still refused to back down. He eyed the Avatar, and pulled himself into another stance.

Aang only lowered his head and sighed. "If you refuse to be saved, then I guess I have no choice than to fight you. But I promise, you WILL suffer for what you did to Katara!"

Aang began taking in air, clearing his mind of his thoughts. He dropped his staff on the ground, and focused on his breathing, clenching his fists. He looked up at the soldier, who was awaiting his attack. He quickly jabbed with his left, and followed through stronger with his right. The soldiers' eyes widened. He didn't know that the Avatar had learned how to firebend yet. He ducked out of the way of the incoming flaming orbs. The soldier swept his leg in-front of him, sending an arch of flame towards Aang. Aang slammed his foot on the ground, causing a boulder to jump up, and kicked it, sending it hurdling towards the soldiers' attack. The boulder was destroyed on impact, and the flame dissipated into nothingness. Aang turned around, remembering that Katara had left him her waterbending canteen. Using his airbending, he ran at full speed towards the canteen which was on the floor. He picked it up as he ran past, and kept running towards the wall he made earlier to trap the soldier with him. He ran up the wall at an angle, bending the water out of the canteen at the same time. From the ground, the soldier was shooting fireball after fireball at the Avatar, each missing just slightly as it scorched the wall Aang was running on. At the apex of Aang's run up the wall, he froze the water into dozens of shards and icicles, and launched them at the soldier on his way down.

Using the same leg sweeping motion, the soldier created large blast of fire in-front of him, creating a temporary barrier of fire that would melt the ice on contact. As the soldier was busy blocking all the shards, Aang created a final, large icicle that he sent forward. Using his airbending, he blasted a powerful gust of wind behind it, speeding the icicle towards the soldier. Just as the soldiers' barrier of fire began to disappear, the larger icicle came at him with great velocity, and, before the soldier could react, it tore a deep gash in his upper left arm, rendering it nearly useless.

"Ahhh!" The soldier cried out in pain, grasping his left arm with his right hand, blood running through his fingers. Once on the ground again, Aang punched a larger fireball towards the soldier, which impacted his chest, leaving a hole in his shirt and charred, black flesh. The soldier fell over backwards, landing on his back, writhing in pain. Aang's evil side smiled a bit. It was time for revenge.

"You kidnapped her!" Aang yelled, launching a smaller boulder at the soldier's arm wound.

"Ahhh! No! Avatar! Stop!" The soldier yelled nearly incoherently, grasping his arm in pain.

"You had your chance to leave, but it was against your 'honor'! I told you that you would pay, and now you will!" Aang was yelling as loud as he could. "And this one is because you tied her up!" Aang threw another boulder at the soldier, this time hitting his burned chest.

The soldier coughed up blood. "Nghnn..! Stop..!" The soldier tried to yell, but the wind was knocked out of him.

"This is because you hit her!" Aang threw a boulder at his right, undamaged arm, this one with much greater force than the ones before, completely smashing the bone of his lower arm.

The soldier didn't even have the energy to yell in pain, so he lied there, gasping for air, choking on his own coughed up blood.

Aang approached the soldier, with a look in his eyes that no words could express. It was as if he felt disgusted to even have the soldier in his presence. Aang walked over to the soldiers' left side, and slowly stepped onto his deep gash, and slowly applying more pressure.

"And this is for insulting her!"

The soldier screamed out something unintelligible, just shouting, hoping that it would relieve the pain.

Aang took a step back and earthbended an enormous boulder out of the ground, holding it overhead, ready to drop it onto the Fire Nation soldier.

"And this will be because of all the pain your Nation caused her! Her mother's death! Her father going off to war! The destruction of her tribe! And of her sister tribe! For having to leave her home to teach me waterbending! For always being in harms way! For never having a true place to live! For only being able to bathe when we find a river or lake! For fighting a war she shouldn't have to! For killing soldiers that she never even met! For making her life a LIVING HELL!" Aang was about ready to drop the boulder on the man, but he heard Katara's voice in his mind.

'_Okay, I'll go. But please! Don't kill them! No one deserves to die that way, no mater what they have done!'_

Aang's eyes widened, realizing what he had been doing, and he just froze.

The soldier looked at Aang, wondering what had happened. "Avatar! Do not dishonor me! You won the fight! Now end it!"

Aang remained there, frozen in his place, unable to think of anything else other than what Katara had said to him earlier. _What am I doing? This isn't like me… Why was I about to kill him? Katara was right…_

"Go on, Avatar! Do it! DO IT!"

Aang sighed, and dropped the boulder behind him. "And that was because she wouldn't want me to. That's the only reason you are still alive." **(A/N Stole those last couple of lines from The Bourne Supremacy… Sorry Universal Studios…)**

Aang bended the four walls down, and made his way up the beach.

**Wow, dark ending for this chapter. There really wasn't much room for fluff, so, to my fellow fluff lovers, I apologize.**


	14. Chapter 13

**Gah! I'm slipping! It shouldn't be taking me this long to update. Oh well.**

**YAY! People liked my fight scene! I'm shocked to say the least; I thought it wasn't all that good. I need to boost my self-esteem. Lol.**

**I don't own Avatar. And I am disappointed in those who do because they made a crappy videogame.**

**Ch.13**

Aang was making his way out of the trees and got to the sandy shoreline. The group of 40 or so soldiers were waiting for their leader. When they saw Aang, but not their commander, they all got a look of terrible fear on their faces. Aang approached the nearest one.

"He's alive, but he is badly burned, has a deep gash and a broken arm. He'll need medical attention right away if he is to remain in command of your group." Aang walked off before the soldier could say anything, but he heard several people run towards where the fight had occurred.

He began his walk back towards camp, wondering how he could ever do such a thing.

_I'm the Avatar! What in the world was I doing? I'm supposed to be a peaceful monk… But then again, I stopped being a monk when I left the temple. Still, what I did wasn't right. And what was worse was that I felt satisfied with what happened… Uhgh, how will I tell Katara? She told me not to kill the guy… and I didn't… but I was about to. And I wasn't even in the Avatar State! It made me so angry to see them treat her like that. Katara's a great person, she doesn't deserve to be bound up and hurt for no reason. And everything I said over there was true. She shouldn't have to follow me on mission after dangerous mission. Katara should have the best anyone could give her… I just hope I can give her enough…_

Aang hadn't noticed that he was almost at the camp. He stopped for a second to collect his thoughts, and took a deep breath. He just wondered what Katara's reaction would be like. He walked forward the last 10 feet. _5 feet… 3 feet… 1 foot… _He saw their small tent, and then he saw Katara. She was sitting by the river, her eyes were closed, and she seemed to be deep in thought. He also noted that Katara had a look of extreme concern on her face. Aang rustled some bushes to get her attention. She didn't respond. He walked over to her, and she still didn't notice. She seemed to be in some sort of deep trance, like he was when he meditated. He crouched down next to her.

"Hey… Open your eyes. I'm back." Aang whispered as he placed a hand on her shoulder. She slowly opened her eyes and looked over at Aang, who was giving her a faint smile. She took a moment to realize that he was really there, and then she practically assaulted him with a fierce hug.

"AANG!! You're okay! I thought that you- I mean you probably wouldn't- but- I just…" She hugged tighter. "I was so scared, and-." She sighed happily. "I'm just glad your okay." She started kissing him franticly. Not with so much passion, but just kissing him for the sake of kissing him, because in the back of her mind, she knew that if he had died she would curse herself for life for not taking every chance she got to kiss him. To hug him. To just be with him.

He pulled back so that they were a few inches apart. "Yeah, I'm alright. But how are you? They didn't hurt you to bad, did they?"

"I'm fine, just a little shaken." Katara felt her cheek, where the Fire Nation soldier had slapped her. "What happened to the soldier? He wasn't with the others when they returned to their ship."

Aang let his head hand and sighed. He didn't know how to start off. "Well, I want you to know that I listened to you, and I didn't kill him..."

"That's a good thing, isn't it? Why do you sound so down?"

"Because I was about to… I was holding a giant boulder overhead, ready to drop it on him. And the only thing that stopped me was when I remembered what you said. When I realized what I was doing, I just felt so… so… horrible. What I was doing wasn't like me. It was like I had no control over my body."

"It's ok, Aang. The important thing is that you didn't kill him. You and me both know that you can do some pretty irrational things when you in the Avatar state."

_Ouch, that one hurt. _"That's one of the worst part's of it… I wasn't in the Avatar state."

Katara sat there in silence for a few moments with a blank look on her face. Then she finally realized what Aang had said. "What do you mean you weren't in the Avatar state?"

"Just that. Before the fight, the soldier wanted to fight me as me, not the other Avatars. So when I started winning and he couldn't fight back, I… I started torturing the guy. He was completely helpless and I just wouldn't stop. He started yelling to stop and to let him go, but I wanted him to pay for what he did. I wanted him to _suffer_. He had no right to take you. He had no right to hit you. He had no right to insult you. And I wanted him to know it."

Katara remained silent.

"I was really ashamed of what I did. I could have stopped at any time, but I didn't. What I did was inhuman." Aang lowered his head. "I just hope you don't think I am some kind of monster."

Katara still remained silent, trying to take in all that Aang said to her. He started to get up, thinking that she wouldn't want him there, but Katara grabbed him by the arm and pulled him down into another tight hug.

"Of course I don't think you're a monster! What you did was for me, and it showed just how much you care about me. And you _were_ in control, Aang. If you weren't, he would never have survived. You showed him compassion by letting him live. The fact that you hurt him doesn't mean you are a monster. It is just human nature to protect the ones you care about."

Aang adored the way she could always make him feel better. "I wasn't just protecting someone I care about. I was protecting someone I love. And I'll always do anything to make sure you are safe."

Katara smiled and so did Aang. Katara broke the hug and pulled back a little, taking Aang's hands in hers. She looked into his big, grey eyes. The same eyes that just a few minutes ago were glowing as he was getting ready take his revenge on the Fire Nation soldier. Katara stared at them for a while, and Aang sat there, letting Katara gaze.

"What do you see?" Aang was curious to know just what Katara was looking at in his eyes.

"I see the soul of a kid and the heart of a warrior. I see peace. I see the weight of the world. I see fun and enjoyment. I see courage. I see bravery. I see a great destiny. I see the man I love. I see you, Aang."

Aang got his usual wide grin. "The _MAN_ you love?"

"I said all of that and you only heard 'man'?"

"No. I heard the rest of it." Aang out his hands on her shoulders and pulled her closer to him. He grinned again. "But still, the _MAN_ ?"

Katara rolled her eyes and laughed a small laugh. "Yes, Aang. The _man _I love." They leaned into each other and kissed for a good, long time.

---------------------

Sokka was in his sleeping bag when the sun shone through the mouth of the cave he was in and it shone in his face. His eyes slowly opened and, doing something very unsokkaly, and actually got up. He took a moment to stretch and crack whatever joints hadn't when he got up. He looked around and saw Toph, who was still lying on her rock. _How does she sleep like that?_ Then he began doing something very sokkaly, and he began rummaging through their things for meat. When he found none, he grabbed his fishing equipment and headed towards the beach.

**I don't know if it will live up to some of your expectations. Like I said, I need higher self-esteem. Lol.**

**Rest in Peace, Mako Iwamatso (Voice Actor for Uncle Iroh)**


	15. chapter 14

**In case none of you saw it, I _did _actually update yesterday, but when I replaced that other "update" with this one, it remained with the date of the older one, thus making it seem like I didn't update. But I did. I just want to prove that I didn't miss my deadline. So, "HA!" to the evil, purple anti-update monkeys.** _(...awkward silence...)_

**So, like I said before in my "update about updating," I was sick all weekend and I didn't really have time to work on the story. So I just watched every single episode of every single TV show **_(including Avatar, of course)_** I have in my downloads **_(and for Avatar, that's every episode to date)_**, and then I watched "The Fortuneteller" episode **_(again, and again, and again… Because it's just so… Kataangy)_** and, although this so uber random, did anyone else notice how weird it was when Aang stood next to Meng alone and he looked so much taller than her? It made him seem much taller, and in-turn, older than usual. So, yeah. That was my random remark of the day.**

**Well, randomness is apparently the theme for today, as this chapter is completely random as well. It is in no way related to anything that has happened so far, at least not the Aang and Katara part.**

**If I owned Avatar, I'd be rich and then I'd buy this site. Yay.**

**Ch.14**

"C'mon. We've put off looking for Sokka enough. Let's go find him." Katara was trying to get up from where she and Aang were kissing, but Aang gently pulled her back down.

"Mmmm… don't go… we were having so much fun…" Aang protested in a whiney voice. He was trying his best to get her to stay. "Besides, we heard him yelling last night. We know he's alright."

Katara crossed her arms in-front of her. "Aang, he was yelling your name. I think it's safe to assume he was looking for us. Or at least you."

"He didn't _sound_ like he was looking for me. He sounded angry." Aang chuckled and then said, mostly to himself, "Heh, maybe he found out I was sharing a tent with you."

Katara practically froze. "Aang?"

"Yeah?"

"Where did you say you found that boomerang?"

Aang instantly picked up what she was thinking. "It was a joke, Katara. Sokka wouldn't be spying on us. You're his sister and I've been traveling with him for over a month. I think he trusts us." **(A/N makes Sokka seem like a total jerk, doesn't it?)**

Katara softened up. "Yeah, I guess you're right. We should still look for him, though. Every time we have tried to go out and find them, something distracted us. Let's just go before we change our minds again."

Aang reluctantly agreed, and airbended himself up. Katara held out her hand for Aang to help her up from where she was lying on the ground. Aang saw an opening for a dirty trick and smiled wickedly. Katara saw him and her eyes widened.

"Aang? Aang! Don't even think abou-!" Too late. Aang effortlessly bended a small gust of wind under her and lifted her several feet into the air.

"AANG! GET ME DOWN! AAANNNGGGG!!!" Katara's screams were supposed to be loud and serious, but it was ruined by her louder laughter. Hearing her laugh just made him feel like doing more.

"Okay, Katara. I'll let you down…" Aang said as he was biting his tongue, trying to stop himself from laughing.

Katara stopped laughing and her eyes widened again. "Aang! No! Don't! Let! Me! Down! Aang!!!"

With a final burst of air, Katara shot up a few more feet in the air until she was about 8 feet up, and she started laughing again. Without warning, Aang suddenly dropped her right above him. When he caught her, she was still laughing. Once safely in his arms, he helped her up. Aang had an evil grin on his face.

Once Katara was able to stop laughing, she began pounding her fists onto his arm. "DON'T EVER DO THAT TO ME AGAIN! I swear, if I wasn't in love with you, I'd…"

"You'd what?" Aang was grinning from ear to ear and placed his hands on her waist to pull her closer to him.

Katara suddenly got an idea and then it was her turn to smile wickedly. "I'd do THIS!" Katara flung her arm back towards the stream and then flung it forward, causing a large glob of water to quickly rise out and fly towards Aang, resulting in a large splash of water that engulfed Aang's face. Now Katara was laughing as loud as possible. Aang just stood there, with water dripping off of him, watching Katara roll around on the ground as she laughed. He simply smiled, not wanting any payback. He enjoyed seeing her laugh, and smile, and have fun.

Katara was now lying on the ground, clutching her side because it had started to hurt from so much laughter. She looked up at Aang and wondered why he was just standing there smiling at her. _Could he be planning another trick? No, it's not that kind of smile, he just looks… happy. _"Ummm, any reason why you haven't tried to fight back?"

"No. Not really." Aang kept smiling at her. "I'm just remembering how beautiful you are when you-." Aang hesitated.

"When I what?"

"No. Just… how beautiful you are." Aang grinned at her and caused Katara to blush a little.

_He's so sweet even when there is no need to be. I just threw a ball of water in his face and he'd rather compliment me than fight back. You can't find nice people like that. I don't think there was ever a time where they existed… And what's with this blush? Most of the time I can make out with him perfectly fine and keep my composure but for some reason, it's those little things he does that get me all flushed…_

Katara smiled back at Aang and held out her hand for him to help her back up, but then realized what happened last time and quickly retracted it with a worried look in her eyes.

Aang laughed a little at her reaction and held out his hand. "It's okay. I'm done playing around. I got you then you got me. We're even." Aang gave her that gentle, reassuring smile again.

Realizing Aang wasn't up to anything, Katara grabbed onto Aang's hand as he hoisted her up. A little to fast, in fact, and he pulled her up right into his arms and he lightly pecked her on the lips. "Okay. So I lied. _Now_ I'm done playing around." Aang said softly as he smiled at her and she smiled back. Katara leaned in and gave him a brief kiss as well.

"We're even." Katara told him with in a soft voice.

--------------------

Toph slowly opened her eyes as she yawned. She stretched out a little then used her earthbending to push herself up into a standing position. She stood there for a moment, still groggy from her nap, and noticed that there were no vibrations or sounds coming from the direction of Sokka's sleeping bag.

Toph grumbled. "Snoozles… You idiot… You just can't leave them alone, can you?" Toph spoke to herself as if he were there listening. "I guess I better go find him…"

As she made her way out the cave, her mind told her to stop. _You're jumping to conclusions. You don't know if he even IS there. Besides, it wouldn't be good to be noticed by Aang and Katara as you are walking around looking for him. Look around the cave for clues as to where he might be._

Toph walked around the cave stomping on the floor, trying to feel the vibrations of things lying on the ground, and compare it with what she remembered being there. As she approached their equipment, she noticed that their equipment bag seemed lighter, or emptier. She walked over to it and started feeling around inside of it.

_The fishing equipment is missing… Of course! Sokka's always hungry when he wakes up! He must be out by the beach somewhere._

Toph decided to sit around and wait for Sokka to come back with their food. She didn't know the island well, and, if he was on the beach, she wouldn't be able to see on the sand. She leaned against a wall and slid down until she was sitting on the ground.

She started playing around with a few small rocks on the floor and though about what Aang and Katara could be doing that they haven't found her and Sokka yet. She remembered the intense vibrations that she felt and the noises that she heard as the two rolled around on the ground out in the field as they made out. She felt the temperature of her face's skin heat up and she let out a quiet "Oh." All of the sudden an idea of her and Sokka doing the exact same thing crossed her mind and she began to blush even more.

Then a particularly embarrassing memory crossed her mind. One of an event that occurred on Serpent's Pass involving a certain warrior girl from a certain island called Kyoshi and a certain kiss that was supposed to end up on Sokka's cheek but accidentally ended up on the cheek of that certain warrior girl. Toph buried her face in her hands in humiliation at the very thought of what happened that day.

**TOKKA!!!! Lol. Sorry to anyone who doesn't like Tokka, but they were alone on a deserted island together and the idea of mentioning something about it was to tempting. Besides, we all know Toph digs him. Lol.**

**Rest in Peace, Mako Iwamatsu (Voice Actor for Uncle Iroh)**


	16. Chapter 15

**Weeee! Yay! I'm back to my semi-usual update schedule! That's right! One a day! And I'm not talking about the vitamin pill!**

**Okay, yeah. I know. I'm weird. Whatever. BTW, although I mentioned some Tokka at the end of the last chapter, I might not pursue that pairing. I just wanted to torture Toph. Lol.**

**Toph: Hey! That's no fair! **_(Earthbends a rock out of the ground and throws it at me)_

**I don't own anything but the clothes on my back.**

**Ch15**

Sokka was sitting on a rocky outcrop that jetted out into the ocean. He had been there for about ½ an hour trying to catch his lunch. No luck. _Typical. How very typical. And sad. _Sokka thought to himself as he sat there in the sun awaiting the one fish stupid enough to get close to his line.

Then, as if they appeared on command, a large school of fish came out of nowhere, their metallic looking scales shining through the clear ocean water as the sun reflected off of them. But still, not a single fish dared to move close to Sokka's bait. He gritted his teeth and his stomach began making it's _"I'm hungry"_ noises.

Looking in the large pile of fishing equipment he brought with him, he found a small net he used back in the South Pole to catch fish while riding in his canoe. He lied down on his stomach and ever so carefully scooted closer to the water. The school of fish made one more pass and Sokka positioned the net above the water. His eyes followed his target, and he saw the group of fish turn around to follow the pull of the wave. They got closer and closer, slowly and agonizingly. Sokka's stomach continued to rumble.

_Just a little closer… _"NOW!" He yelled out, dropping his net into the water as the school made its pass. He closed his eyes, imagining the satisfaction eating his catch would bring licking his lips as he laughed a little. He pulled the net up out of the water.

_Something's not right… Shouldn't the net be heavier? _Knowing his luck, he didn't want to open his eyes and see what had happened, but the incessant rumbling of his stomach eventually forced him to. His eyelids slowly parted and his eyes refocused on the net.

"SEAWEED?" Sokka cried out to the sky after seeing the tangled mess of green plants in his net. _The spirits hate me. The spirits hate me. The spirits hate me…_

--------------------

Aang and Katara were just about ready to leave their camp and begin their search. Katara was kneeling by the river refilling her waterbending canteen incase they came across any angry wildlife. Aang was leaning against one of the palm trees surrounding their campsite, considering whether or not to take his glider.

_We might need it incase any wild animals feel like attacking because we accidentally walked into their nest or something… But it's just extra baggage. Besides, if we need to defend ourselves, I've got the other elements, right? _He glanced over at Katara, who was still kneeling by the small stream. _And I don't want to accidentally lose it out there if I leave it on the ground if Katara and I get… distracted again. _Aang smiled at his last though. _And we most likely WILL get distracted again._

Aang laughed a little to himself. He never had any thoughts like these before he met Katara… And he was just glad that they were _about_ Katara. His subconscious mind told his eyes to wander the way they had done the night before as she was sleeping, and his conscious mind didn't protest. He traced her figure slowly, admiring her every strand of her beautifully braided brown hair, every square inch of her darkened sun kissed skin, every curve on that gorgeously sculpted body.

Katara had finished at the stream and re-corked her canteen. **(Ha-ha that rhymed!) **She stood up and turned around to find Aang leaning against a palm tree and staring at her. **(That didn't rhyme…)** She moved closer and his gaze remained fixed on her, but it was as if he didn't know he was doing it. She got closer and cocked her head to the side, wondering just what Aang was staring at. She looked at his eyes and followed his gaze down to a certain part of her body, her chest in specific. Katara blushed a deep crimson red and then slapped his arm. His head jolted up to look at her face, hoping that she slapped him for a different reason than the one he was thinking about.

"It's not polite to stare, you know. Especially there." Katara was still blushing rather heavily. She was trying to force herself into sounding angry at him, but all she could muster was flattered. And embarrassed.

_Crap… _"Oh, I was staring?" Aang began to blush just as heavily as Katara was, ashamed of what she saw him doing.

"You've pulled that line on me before. And, yes, you were staring." Katara was still trying to sound angry but it just wasn't working. Her mind had reasoning of its own. _You shouldn't be angry. If anything, him staring should be a compliment. He's been around the whole world, seen cities full of other women, and he chooses to stare at you. Lucky girl…_

Aang saw a possible escape route. "You remember the first time I said that?"

"Yes, of course I do. And don't change the subject." Katara was looking at Aang's obviously ashamed and embarrassed face. She wondered whether or not someone had ever given him 'the talk'. "It's okay, Aang. It's just… You do know why you act like that, right? You know… staring, kissing, blushing… that kind of thing."

Aang looked confused. "Uhhh… Because you're beautiful and I love you?"

Katara blushed again and smiled. "That's not exactly what I was trying to get at, but thanks for the compliment. I mean, has anyone ever explained… growing up to you?"

Aang blankly stared at her.

"Ummm, 'the birds and the bees'…" Katara tried to get Aang to recognize one of the many expressions used for 'the talk'.

Aang's eyes widened and his face looked pale. "Ohh, you mean that… Yeah, I know about that. And I don't need to hear it again."

Now Katara looked confused. "Really? The monks taught you about that? I thought that it was against the rules."

Aang shook his head. "Not the monks. Bumi's dad. Back before I got stuck in the iceberg."

"Bumi's dad?"

"Yeah. It was kind of embarrassing… Bumi and I were playing around outside the palace in Omashu when this girl asked to play with us. I said yes and we played around, but Bumi wouldn't stop blushing and fidgeting around her. His dad must have seen him because after we finished, he gave him the talk. He gave both of us the talk."

"Why you?" Katara asked, wondering what kind of person gives some kid he barely knows 'the talk'.

Aang shrugged in an _I don't know_ fashion, and began walking out towards the trees with Katara to begin there search. "Bumi is weird. Imagine how weird his dad must have been. Then it just doesn't seem that odd." Aang explained to her as he walked and talked.

"That makes sense, I guess…" _It's still really weird._

"So, uhhh, you're not angry?"

"Why would I be angry? It's not your fault that your hormones have kicked in. Just do it a little more discreetly…" She took his hand and laced her fingers in between his. "Like when I'm not staring right at you!" She added with a mock angry voice and a laugh.

Aang smiled at her and raised her hand up to his face to kiss it.

--------------------

Sokka was still lying on the edge of the rocks, hovering over the water trying to catch his meal. Every single item in his fish catching arsenal had failed miserably and he resorted to grabbing fish with his bare hands. The large school of fish still swam nearby, but just out of reach of Sokka's grasp. Every so often a fish would stray from the group and get closer to him, only to have Sokka grab at nothing but water. The fish seemed to be playing a game of 'cat and mouse', each taking their turn at escaping from Sokka. Except in this case it was more like a game of 'hungry moron and fish'.

Sokka seemed to notice the occasional fish pass closer to him. "They're taunting me…" Sokka mumbled through his gritted teeth. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the bright shimmer of sunlight reflecting off of a fishes scales. But this time, it wasn't one fish. It wasn't even two. A small group of 5 or 6 fish were headed in Sokka's direction. His eyes widened and his mouth watered.

His head swiveled to follow the movements of his prey. They slowly got closer and closer… and closer… and closer… then they were all right under Sokka's nose, and the most unbelievable thing happened. The small group stopped swimming around right under him. He positioned his hands right above the water and hesitated. He took a deep breath and plunged his arms into the water. He didn't touch anything. He actually missed the group of fish by a few inches. He grunted in frustration. Slowly, he moved his hand closer to the fish, and the group stayed where it was. Sokka's hand was less than an inch away now and the fish remained. He grinned. He would surely get it this time.

"That's it. I've got you now…" He whispered manically. Then he suddenly swept his hand at the group of fish and quickly grasped his hand. He began laughing like an idiot at the taunting fishes' fate. He pulled it out of the water. But it didn't seem like a fish. It wasn't flopping around. And it was squishier…

"A SEA SPONGE?"

**Ha-Ha! I like Sokka bashing. He has the perfect personality to have bad things happen to him.**

**Rest in Peace, Mako Iwamatsu (Voice Actor for Uncle Iroh)**


	17. Chapter 16

**Wow. Over 170 hits on the last chapter, and only 3 reviews… Compared to the 10 before that one… That's sad, guys. I said at the beginning that I'll even accept flames… only 3 reviews… :(**

**So I've got a new update policy. No reviews, no updates! Mwahahahaha. Hahaha. Haha. Ha.**

**I must warn you, I'm pushing the "T" rating to its limits a little bit here. Nothing deserving of a higher rating happens, but it could be interpreted the wrong way. Especially in the last 2 paragraphs. Mostly because I kept using the word 'tonight'. Oh well. Oh, and because I was trying to get Katara to sound all sexy for Aang. **

**Aang: **_(grinning and blushing) _

**Toph:** _(Throws another rock, this time hits Aang. He's knocked to the floor. Still grinning…)_

**I don't know why I wrote this chapter like that. It just kinda happened.**

**I own. That's right.**

**Ch.16**

Aang and Katara were making their way through the denser foliage of the middle of the island, looking for clues that might lead to Sokka and Toph. They were walking hand-in-hand, not really paying any attention to their search. So instead, they just took a walk and conversed.

"Do you think it's a good thing that we ended up here?" Katara asked Aang, wondering what his take on the situation was.

"Depends on what you're trying to ask. Do you mean if I like the way things turned out?"

Katara nodded.

Aang looked down at Katara's hand, which was firmly holding his. Katara followed in suit and felt Aang squeeze her hand gently. They looked up and smiled at each other. "Well, besides the obvious, I'd have to say yes. More than one good thing has happened since we got stuck here."

"Hmmm, like what?"

Aang lightly squeezed her hand again. "I think that we both know the first one." He said as he gave Katara one of his gentle, warm smiles that she so dearly cherished. Katara returned the gentle squeeze and smiled back. She then rested her head on his shoulder, which, she thought, was a definite upside to Aang's sudden teenage growth spurt that rendered him just as tall, if not just a bit taller, than her.

"So what are some of the other things?" She asked, nuzzling her head against his neck, looking for a comfortable spot.

Aang let go of her hand so that he could wrap his arm around her shoulders, gently pulling her closer to him. "Let's see… I've got a basic understanding of firebending now… And we've been able to relax a little. The last time we tried to take a vacation we ended up in a giant, sinking, ancient library being attacked by a spirit in the form of a giant owl."

Katara lifted her head from its spot on Aang's shoulder to look at him. Aang returned the gaze. They stood there looking at each other with a blank expression written on their faces for a few moments. Then, out of the blue, they both began laughing hysterically.

"I think that if we were to ever write the memoirs of our adventures, no one would believe half of the things we've been through." Katara managed to say between laughs.

"Well, you really couldn't blame them. Not everyone has seen a giant talking owl. Or a huge panda bear that can shape shift into deadly monster. Or a giant water monster awesome spirit attack thing..."

"I get it Aan-."

"… Or a cave that changes shape and the only way out is to kiss in the dark…"

"Aang, I think you've pro-."

"… Or a girl giving up her life to become the moon spirit…"

"That's enough, Aan-."

"… Or how about entering the spirit world? I'm the only one who ca- mmmphh!"

Katara, seeing no other way to stop Aang's rambling, had grabbed him by his tunic and pushed him up against a tree, then firmly pressed her lips against his. Aang was a little dazed, to say the least; Katara's action was definitely unexpected.

Katara figured that as long as she had him, she might as well have some fun. She began to lightly move her tongue along Aang's lower lip, waiting for them to part. Aang was still a little confused, but his subconscious mind took over his body's actions. He absent-mindedly placed his hand in Katara's hair, and his other hand traveled down along her back and stopped on her waist. Katara pushed herself into him a little more, trying to feel all of him at once.

Aang was now back in control of his body. He parted his lips at the feeling of Katara's tongue pleading for entrance. Her tongue made its way towards his, and once there, began to dance around it, trying to coax it to come out and play with her. Aang's tongue happily complied and began to wrestle with hers.

Noting that the kiss was now becoming more passionate, Aang let the hand that was resting on her waist slide a little lower, reaching a point he thought Katara was comfortable with. She noticed this action and smiled inwardly. Katara pulled back slightly before the kiss got any more intense. She got an idea that would make this kiss seem like nothing more than a quick peck.

"So are you done rambling now?" She asked with a smirk, knowing how well her little trick worked out.

Aang thought on it for a second. "Depends. Will you kiss me again?"

Katara thought for a second as well. "Maybe." She was sure Aang would enjoy her idea as much as she would, but it couldn't hurt to mess with his mind a little, first. She backed off of him.

"That's wasn't a 'no'…" Aang was disappointed that she left.

"I know…" She slowly began to walk off. He followed close behind.

"So you push me up against a tree and we start to make out only for you to suddenly walk away…"

"Yep."

"And then you said that we _might_ kiss again…"

"Right."

"But you didn't say that we _wouldn't_ kiss again…"

"Uh-Huh."

"So that means that we _will_ kiss again…"

"Yeah."

Aang looked confused. "So why did you walk away?" He whined.

"I didn't say _when_ I would kiss you again..." She smiled inwardly again, loving how upset he was that they stopped kissing.

Aang tried to respond but he couldn't come up with anything. He could only think of saying the first thing that came to mind. "You're mean!" He exclaimed with a pout, sounding like the child he enjoyed behaving as.

Katara giggled. "No, I'm smart."

Aang grumbled a little under his breath. He then looked up and saw Katara smiling at him. He grumbled again. "But why'd you have to stop? You can't just stop…"

"Why not?" Katara was still giggling a little at how disappointed Aang was.

Aang decided to try and get her to laugh. "Because it will cause severe bodily dysfunction!" He blurted, awaiting Katara's reaction. _Maybe a joke will lead to a good time… Which could lead back to the tree…Or the dirt… Either ones works._

Katara couldn't help but explode with laughter at that last comment. "Don't worry! I think you'll be fine!" She managed to squeeze those few words in-between laughs. "Besides, I can heal you, right?" She said regaining her breath after her giggle-fit.

Aang pouted again. "C'mon! Could you at least give me a time frame? How long? Minutes? Hours?" He complained.

Katara giggled again. "Later. It will be worth the wait. I promise."

"Later… When later?"

Katara smiled and kept her eyes in-front of her. "Tonight later."

Aang stopped dead in his tracks. "Tonight? Why tonight?" he asked nervously.

Katara turned towards him and took both his hands in hers. "You know how to firebend now, right? Think about it. Dark, cold night. Warm campfire. Just you and me. No Sokka. No Toph. No Appa. No war. Just you and me…"

Aang felt his face heat up. As good an offer like that sounds, his responsible side took over. "Umm, you remember the whole 'too young for that' thing, right?"

Katara strongly punched him in the arm and laughed. "I wasn't thinking of it like that, you sicko! I meant a romantic evening alone!" She didn't sound angry. Maybe amused… and definantly a little flattered. She blushed at the thought of it, but didn't discard it completely. Maybe not anytime soon, but one day… They _were_ to be married, right?

Aang grimaced in pain. "Would you _stop_ doing that? You're a lot stronger than you look!" He said as loudly as he could without making it a yell. The last thing he wanted to do now was make Katara angry. No good would come from starting an argument the day the couple confessed their feelings for each other. He rubbed his arm that she had punched several times that day. _I'm gonna have a bruise the size of a watermelon by tonight…_

Katara laughed again. "Sorry" was all she said.

Aang smiled at the simplicity of her statement. "I guess that counts as enough of an apology. Just aim for the _other_ arm next time…"

Katara's loud laughter was down to a soft giggle. "Yeah… Next time…"

The two continued with their search through the center of the island. Aang still had one last thing to say.

"But why did you have to kill the mood so suddenly back at the tree? Couldn't you have eased into it or something?" He pleaded. "Stuff like that can leave you feeling… I don't know… empty…"

Katara stopped and turned to face Aang. "I didn't kill the mood…" She stepped unbearably close to Aang. He could feel her warm breath on his lips. He shivered, wishing there was a source of cold water nearby.

"I'm just building up the mood for tonight…" She scuttled a little closer. Now their faces were literally less than a centimeter apart. The tone of her voice… it was the only thing keeping him from jumping onto her lips right then and there… Something about it told him that it would be best to wait…

**Weeee! Fluffiness! And to any 'sickos' out there, like Aang, stop being so perverted. It's a "T" rated fic, people. I wouldn't add anything that would earn it a higher rating. I just thought it would be funny to have Aang get the wrong idea… And push the "T" rating as far as it goes… But now, in a few chapters, I'm gonna have to work really hard on a good make-out scene. I had some trouble with the last one… This one won't be any easier…**

**Those last 3 paragraphs with the "kill the mood" thing going on was a tribute for _daydream11_ and her story, "One More Time". It was her fics that convinced me to join this site and begin writing my own stories. Although my version of the kill the mood thing could be interpreted… um… differently? I guess that's the word I'm looking for…**

**And you heard what I said up in the header! Review people!**

**Rest in Peace, Mako Iwamatsu (Voice Actor for Uncle Iroh)**


	18. Chapter 17

**Ha-ha! I didn't really mean the whole review thing! But it worked great, didn't it? Eleven reviews within a day of posting… That's results. :)**

**Hmmm, I don't really know why I'm mentioning this, but how come only so few songs could apply to a Kataang songfic **_(and not sound totally weird)_**? I was looking though all my music on my computer for a possible Kataang songfic song and I just started laughing. I like semi old music, and I'd just love to see someone write a Kataang songfic on Sir Mix-A-Lot's _"I Like Big Butts."_ That would have me rolling on the floor in laughter for a few hours.**

**So that was some more of my randomness. This chapter still doesn't deal with Sokka or Toph, I'm planning on writing an 'all Sokka and Toph' chapter to make up for all their absences of my more recent chapters. The separations of sections with the dashes are changes between what Aang is doing and what Katara is doing.**

**If I owned Avatar, would I be on this site? Hmmm, I don't know… Would I?**

**Ch.17**

Katara and Aang had made their way back to their campsite after their search for her brother and friend. Neither of them was paying to much attention to the search, though. They didn't want their good time to come to a screeching halt so suddenly. They knew that as soon as Sokka was around, he would make sure that all romantic activities would be kept to a minimum. So they enjoyed their time together while they could.

Aang was lying on the ground, not doing anything in particular. He was just thinking about what that night would have in-store for him. He knew that nothing major would arise from it, but he still felt extremely nervous. _Maybe it's because this will be our first real… date. _As great as making out with her several times in the past few hours was, he was even more exited and anxious about this. _A date with Katara…_ It had been one of the top 5 things on his to-do list for a while now. Hell, it was tied for first with 'stop the war.' He wanted to make it special, no mater how hard that would be on an uncharted island. He wanted to give Katara something that would surely make this night a memorable one.

He didn't want to do anything too extravagant, but he didn't want his gift to seem simple. He had made several little pieces of jewelry for her in the past. Necklaces, bracelets, one or two hair ornaments… he wanted to do something more personal this time. He lied on his back he stared up into the clouds, remembering the village he had passed by so long ago. He remembered Aunt Wu, and how she told him that if he trusted in his heart, he would be with the one he loves. He remembered Aunt Wu's cloud readings, looking at the odd shaped clouds in hopes of finding any good ideas.

He watched as the white puffy clouds moved along the vast blue sky, being pulled and shaped by high altitude air currents. He saw a fluffy bunny and laughed a little at the foolishness of it. _Fluffy bunny cloud forecasts doom and destruction… _he recalled from their last experience with cloud reading.He couldn't tell how much of Aunt Wu's superstition he believed, but she had been right about him following his heart. And it was enough. A few more clouds passed by, none with any true shape, just messy puffs of white.

One more cloud passed by, this one looking circular in shape. He squinted, trying to focus some more on it. Some wind drew a little bit of the cloud out of the middle, leaving a wide hole in the center. It looked like a … ring. Aang's eyes widened at his realization. That is what he would make. With his earthbending he could probably make a real good looking ring if he found the right stone. It would be difficult, though. He had never used his earthbending on something so small, requiring so much precision. Earthbending is mostly used on a large scale, with large boulders or walls. It dawned on him that Toph might not have even tried to do something like this. But it was worth it. This was a special occasion…

--------------------

It was the afternoon, about 3 o'clock. Katara was in their tent, also not doing anything in particular. She lied down on her side thinking about what would occur in a few hours. She, like Aang, respected the fact that they were far too young to get into anything serious. Besides, it had been predicted that they were to be married. They didn't need to rush into anything.

But still, she knew that tonight would be something else. Sure there would probably be lots of making-out and such, but that's not what would make it special. This would be the first time they were truly alone. They had been alone the whole time on the island, but this would be alone in a different sense. There would be her and there would be Aang. That's it. They were done worrying about Sokka for the day, and there was no one left to fight after the previous events that took place. All that was left was for one to enjoy being with the other.

She began playing with her traditional hair loops, twirling one of them with her finger to the point where it was about to detach itself from her braid. She let it loosen a little, and then she slid her finger out of her hair, watching the loop bounce down in a tight curl. _How come I've never tried any other hair style? I wonder what Aang would think if I tried something different… How about letting my hair down? The only time he's seen me like that is when I wake up… and it's always a mess then. Maybe I should let it down for tonight… Maybe Aang will like it… I was going to wash my hair before tonight anyways._

She decided that she would ask Aang to leave the camp for an hour or two so that she could bathe and get ready for tonight. By the time Aang would be back, it would be starting to get dark and she would be ready for him to go all googley-eyed over her. Hopefully…

--------------------

Aang was sitting outside of the tent on the dirt with a stick in hand. He had doodled several ring designs in the dirt and was working on his last revision, a final drawing incorporating the best ideas from all his previously drawn-up rings. All 127 of them. It would be a simple enough design, but still challenging to make. He would have to walk around the island searching for the best stone he can find.

Using his earthbending, he would cut out a small cube of rock, its size just slightly larger than the diameter of Katara's finger. Then he would slice about ¼ of it off the cube, this being what the ring would be made of. He would bore out a perfectly round hole, using sand as an abrasive to smoothen and polish it so that it would feel comfortable on her finger. Next he would round out the outside edges and make the rest of the ring circular as well. Except for the top.

The top part would remain flat, with just enough room to carve out a small inscription. Aang preferred the inscription to anything else, seeing as how it would be rather unlikely to find any precious jewels or metals out in the middle of the island. He had carefully selected what it would say; there were only a few phrases that would fit both the ring and the occasion. He had decided on 3 simple characters, 完全地, meaning 'heart and soul.'

The inscription would be carved in either by chiseling or by extremely careful earthbending. Once the inscription has been made, he would go in search for berries. He needed to find something that would give him a darkish-blue fluid. Berries seemed like the most appropriate way to go, seeing as it would already be thick enough for what he was planning. The blue paint-like substance would fill the engraving, and he would superheat it using his firebending, letting the paint become near molten.

Once it was ready, he would rapidly cool it with a combination of waterbending and airbending. This process would allow the paint to quickly solidify, creating a blue, glass-like filling for the inscription that would remain in place forever. Then it would finally end with smoothening and polishing the entire ring with sand.

Now all that remained was to select a stone. Aang naturally selected blue for the inscription, seeing as it is the color of her element. Of her people. Of her. The stone would have to match the engraving, so he would follow it up with another one of her usual colors, white. A white stone, perhaps off-white, it might have a few specks of other colors that often appear in rocks like those. The rock was fairly common and wouldn't require much searching. All of the things he needed were readily available on the island, he just needed a reason to go off and find them. As luck would have it, turns out he didn't need to find a reason; Katara was going to give it to him.

Aang heard her moving about inside the tent and he panicked. He dropped his left hand to the ground for support as he swung his right leg out in a circular motion in-front of him _(think 'break dancing')_, creating a burst of wind that removed any and all traces of his plans to make Katara a ring. The air was filled with dust and dirt and he quickly earthbended it all down before Katara peaked her head out of the tent.

"Umm, Aang? Could you, uhhh, leave the camp for a couple of hours? I wanted to wash my hair and get ready for tonight… I don't want to make it sound like I'm kicking you out, but, uhhh, I'm already… Ummm…" Katara was desperately trying not to say she was naked, it just didn't sound like a good thing to say to Aang. Especially now. She was hoping he got the picture.

Lucky for her, he did. He shook his head violently; trying his hardest to push away whatever images had crawled into his head. "Yeah, I was going to go train a little, anyways." He lied. "A couple of hours, right?"

Katara nodded.

Aang airbended himself off the ground. "See you then." He turned and walked off, leaving to find all the components necessary to make her gift.

**So I was feeling uber-descriptive with the whole ring thing… I'm like that. I used to be in architecture and drafting so I guess now it's just part of my character to describe things thoroughly.**

**I made a small drawing of the ring in Microsoft Paint, it came out semi-okay. It even has the inscription in Chinese characters but that didn't come out so well. You can sort of see it if you zoom in enough… It could have been better but I didn't have access to a Photoshop-enabled computer. Tell me if you want me to email you the jpeg in your review. If your email isn't in your profile, leave it in the review.**

**Rest in Peace, Mako Iwamatsu (Voice Actor for Uncle Iroh)**


	19. Chapter 18

**Yay! It's finally updated!**

**My apologies for the _very_ late update, but after the last chapter, I had writers block on this one. I didn't know how to stretch everything I had said about the ring into a whole chapter. And I don't know enough about girls' hair-styling techniques or perception into the female psyche to have a lot of writing on Katara, either. I needed a quick break to brainstorm.**

**So to make it up to my readers, this chapter is longer than usual. **

**While I was on my 'break,' I wrote some other things to spread some ideas out and keep people entertained. 'The Life of a Monk' and 'Kataang Purge: The Drabbles' If you haven't read them yet, go do that now. **

**And here's some more randomness for you. Avatar Roku. 'Roku' means 'six' in Japanese. The first time Roku is a major character is in 'The Winter Solstice (part 1)' And that episode just so happened to be the 6th time the show aired, if you take into consideration that the first 2 episodes aired on the same night. Coincidence? Maybe…**

**Some of you might not like this, but I found it necessary. I'm not writing out Aang making the ring. I tried, and it was one of the reasons I haven't updated. It was… difficult. So 2 hours have gone by, and Aang's finishing up the ring and getting ready for the big night.**

**Still don't own it, but if I ever come across a large inheritance, it will be mine!**

**Ch.18**

After about two long hours and lots of earthbending and chiseling, Aang had nearly completed his gift for Katara. He was in the process of solidifying the filling for the engraving. He had to do it at a slow pace, and he couldn't attempt to freeze it or it would crack and melt.

Once he was satisfied with his work, (and seeing how it was for Katara, 'satisfaction' meant 'perfection') he placed the ring in his sash _(I noticed that's where he puts money) _and began heading back towards the camp. A thought crossed his mind and he got sidetracked. He decided to make a quick detour through the field full of Panda Lilies.

_I never actually got to give one of the lilies to her… She tackled me to the ground before she took it from me… I guess I'll give her 2 gifts instead of 1._

Aang made his way back to the field and carefully selected a small bunch of the rare flowers. When he believed that the bouquet looked well enough, he started returning to the campsite. Every step he took, he began getting more and more nervous. He was constantly checking his appearance, constantly checking to see if his ring was still in his sash, constantly checking to make sure that all the lilies had all their petals and that the stems weren't being crushed in his grip.

By the time he was back at the campsite, he was sweating bullets. He even laughed quietly to himself about it. The way Katara affected him… Even when he had nothing to worry about. Okay, so maybe there was something to worry about. Along with the ring, Aang was planning on asking Katara something very important. _(Not marriage, that's unrealistic) _And he was terribly afraid of what her answer would be. His mind told him not to worry. He himself couldn't be more scared in his life.

He reached the edge of the campsite, and then remembered that Katara had wanted to take a bath. He found it safest to ask if she was decent before he got any closer.

"Um, Katara?" He called out. "Is it alright to come in?"

"Yes, Aang. It's okay." Aang heard her from somewhere near their tent. Aang took a few more steps, and quickly adjusted his collar to be straight. He took a deep breath and held the flowers up. He stepped out into the campsite. Whatever good his deep breath did was just lost.

Aang gasped and went wide-eyed at seeing Katara standing before the tent, and another sparkly moment _(fortuneteller episode)_ occurred in Aang's mind. It was the first time he had really ever seen Katara in a different hair style, and it was working for her. Her dark brown hair cascaded down her back and shoulders in a light wave, the color of her hair accented by the shine of the setting sun. Aang stood there and completely forgot everything he planned out. The only thing he could say was the only thing on his mind.

"Wow…" Aang was still gaping, mouth hanging slightly open.

Katara smiled at his reaction. "Is 'wow' good?"

"Very… Good…" Aang tried to force himself out of talking like a dead guy. "You look amazing!"

Katara couldn't help but grin. She began walking forward to greet him with a kiss, but stopped when she saw the small bouquet in his hands.

"Flowers? Aren't you old fashioned…" She asked, the large smile still gracing her face.

"Well, what'd you expect? I'm over a hundred years old." They laughed together then shared a kiss. It had only been a couple of hours since they last saw each other but they both agreed in their minds that it had been far too long.

When they pulled away, Katara took the flowers, but not before Aang picked one out of the bunch and placed it in her hair. He took a moment to admire her, wondering what it was that he did that made him so lucky as to have this opportunity, to finally tell her how he felt, and to have her feel the same way. There must have been a great spirit that liked him…

"You're so beautiful." He sounded so serious that it startled Katara. He could be so far beyond his years at times… Even for 113.

"And you're so handsome." Katara put every ounce of meaning and sincerity behind those words. She saw him get a little smile at the compliment, and she smiled in return. They kissed briefly again.

When they pulled apart, Aang took both of Katara's hands in his own.

"Well, the sun is setting and the night awaits. Shall we begin the festivities?"

"What are we celebrating?"

Aang smiled. "Love. Friendship. Each other."

Katara smiled widely and threw her arms around Aang. Aang wrapped his arms around her waist.

"You're way too much of a romantic, you know that?"

Aang smiled again. "As long as I'm not a hopeless one."

The couple laughed together once more. Aang walked over to a large pile of wood that the two had collected earlier that day.

"Umm, Katara? Could you step out of the camp for a minute? I, uhhh, I want to light the fire."

Katara was about to protest, about to say that he didn't have to be worried about firebending around her. Just as she was opening her mouth to speak, Aang gave her a sad, pleading face.

"Please, Katara. I just… I want to be sure that I don't hurt you again. It still scares me to firebend around you. What happened that day… I can't forget it. Please. Just step out for a minute."

"Aang… You don't have to be scared. I forgave you a long time ago. And if you hadn't burned me, I would never have learned how to heal."

"That doesn't make it better. It was just a side effect. I can't let myself hurt you again. This is already too big a step. I vowed to never firebend again, and I was planning on keeping that vow."

"Aang, if you don't-."

"Please Katara!" He yelped. "I know you mean well, but stop! Every time I think of firebending, I remember the look that you had on your face when I accidentally burnt you. You looked so scared and hurt… After you ran off, I wanted Sokka to beat my face in. I felt so terrible about what happened… I never want that to happen again. So, please. If I'm gonna firebend, I don't want you to be anywhere near it." Aang was pretty much near tears now. His voice was getting shaky towards the end.

"Aang… It's okay…"

"No, it's not okay. When I saw that I had hurt you, I felt like I wanted to die. It was so hard seeing you cry like that because of me… You were so scared that you ran away… You were running away from _me_. Remember that I already had feelings for you by then. I meant what I said about not firebending anymore. If I have to choose between fulfilling my destiny as the Avatar and making sure that you are never in that much pain again, I'm choosing the second one."

"Aang, you can't ignore your destiny because you're afraid of hurting me."

"I can try. It's true that I have a duty to the whole world. But I also have a duty to you. And you beat the rest of the world hands-down. So what don't you understand? The part where I love you too much to risk having you in that much pain again, or the part where I love you so much that I won't _allow_ you to be in that much pain again?"

"You can't put me before the rest of the world, Aang. You have a war to end. You're the Avatar. If I accidentally hurt you during waterbending practice I wouldn't give up on waterbending."

Aang sighed. "Katara… You didn't see your face. You were so scared. You were scared of _me_. I asked you to trust me with your life. And you did. You left your home to come with me. And what did I do? I betrayed that trust. I hurt you. And I hurt you badly. I wanted you to yell at me or scream at me. I wanted you to water whip me face. I deserved everything that you and Sokka could have thrown at me. But you didn't. I got to go without any punishment and I shouldn't have. What I did wasn't right and it's still on my conscience. I'm still dealing with it and I'm still making up for it. I can't handle putting you through all that pain and fear again. I love you too much to do that."

"Aang…"

"Katara, we shouldn't argue. Tonight was supposed to be a good night, remember? So let's let it be what it was supposed to be. Now, do I light the fire or don't I?"

Katara looked at him for a moment. Not angry, not disbelievingly, but concerned. She knew that Aang had some problems with firebending but he had never told her why or to what extent. Now that she knew, Aang didn't want to discuss it. She thought that he had gotten over the worst part of it, but it was made apparent to her that there were long-term effects involved. She nodded and retreated to the edge of the campsite. Aang waited and made sure she was well out of harms way before he began.

Aang turned to face the pile of wood. He had no idea how this would work, but he had to give it a shot. He focused on his breathing and looked at his hand. Soon enough a flame appeared in his palm. He clenched his fist and punched towards the pile of wood.

_-BANG!-_

Large fireball, explosion, sharp pieces of wood went flying in all directions.

Katara gasped when she heard it. "Aang!" She cried out, running towards where he was lying on the ground. He began to pick himself up. He got on his feet before Katara got to him. He was grasping his lower arm.

"That's why I didn't want you around here…" He said through gritted teeth when she got to him, obviously in pain. He let go of his arm, revealing a slab of wood embedded in it. Katara winced when she saw it. Aang grasped it and pulled it out fast.

"Didn't that hurt?" Katara asked, wondering how he could have pulled that out of his arm without even making a sound.

"Yes, very much." Aang said, still gritting his teeth.

Katara bended some water out of the nearby stream and it wrapped around her hand like a glove. It began to glow lightly. She began to move it towards his wound, but he forced it back.

"Katara, no. This one's gonna heal on its own." He said. He bent down and tore a piece of fabric off of his pants leg. He wrapped it around his arm and tied it tightly, making sure that there was plenty of pressure being applied to the wound.

Katara was surprised that he pushed her hand back. "Why?"

"I need this. You healed my arm the day that I hurt you. I'm not gonna let you heal this. I told you, I need to make up for putting you through all that pain and fear."

"Putting yourself through pain isn't going to fix anything."

"Probably not. But I told you that I deserved punishment. Now I'm getting it. Don't worry. It's not that bad of a wound." Aang moved his arm around to test out his bandage. It fit well. "I'm sorry I pushed your hand away. But you have to understand. I need this. I owe it to you and I owe it to myself."

Katara was quiet for some time. "You're going to have to firebend around me eventually. You're gonna have to face this issue."

Aang looked at her. Katara looked into his eyes; they always seemed to tell what his mouth wasn't saying.

When she looked, she saw a great pain. Not a physical one, but an emotional one. A psychological one. It seemed like burning her had done more damage to him than he said. Perhaps it was because it couldn't be said. She herself couldn't find a word to describe what such a pain could be described as.

"I know I'll have to. But I'm not ready yet. Master Jeong Jeong tried to tell me I wasn't ready. But I didn't listen. I'm listening now."

Aang looked away, wondering if he should say the next thing on his mind.

"Are… Are we still doing the date? This was kinda like our first argument and…"

Katara laughed pretty loudly when she heard him. "Of course we are. In case you forgot, I love you, too. One stupid fight won't change that."

Aang smiled and kissed her softly. She was beginning to return the kiss when Aang pulled away.

"Not yet. You said you were building up the mood for tonight. So wait for tonight. It'll make it more enjoyable."

"Mmmm, it is 'tonight'."

Aang smiled. "It is, isn't it? But, wait. Since we have no fire, looks like we need another place to go. C'mon."

Aang extended his non-bandaged arm for her to take his hand. She did and he led her through the island until she could hear the crashing of waves.

"I found this place while I was waiting for you to finish up with your bath. I figured that we could have a pretty good view from here."

They pushed through the last grouping of trees. Aang looked at Katara, waiting for a reaction. A smile made its way onto her face.

"This place is beautiful…" Aang had led her to the western side of the island, to an amazing beach. The sand was soft and white, the clear blue waves crashed onto the shore, and the setting sun could be seen on the horizon.

"Yeah… I thought we could watch the sunset here. It looked so pretty… It reminded me of you."

Katara smiled at the unexpected compliment and sat down, pulling Aang with her. On his way down he stumbled and fell over, landing with him on top of Katara.

"Well, you get to work fast, don't you?" She joked.

"If you like it that way." He responded seriously. He got off of her and sat next to her. He remembered that he still had to give her the ring.

"Katara? I need to ask you something…" He started out rather shyly.

"What is it, Aang?"

"I, uh, I realize that I really haven't asked you this formally yet… And truth be told, I'm kinda nervous…"

"About what?"

Aang took a deep breath and pulled the ring out of his sash. He placed it in his hand and closed it, making sure that Katara didn't see it. He took her hand and gazed into her beautiful azure eyes.

He struggled with the pain but forced himself to take Katara's hand with his other, wounded, arm.

"Katara…" He held out his other hand in-front of her and slowly opened it. Katara saw the ring and her breathing hitched.

"… Would you be my girlfriend?"

**Yay! Happiness and stuff! And the best part, I know how to follow this up so I'll be able to update earlier! Yay!**

**So are you happy? I updated. I know, it took me long enough. But the important thing is that it's up, right? Right.**

**Review time! Yay! I like 'yay'!**


	20. Chapter 19

**It feels so weird going back to my old update schedule… It was cool being able to get up from the computer at any given time and not care when I had to update. Now I'm back to typing out an entire chapter in one sitting. That eats up time. I'm starting to miss my Xbox 360…**

**I think I may have done it… I might have surpassed my other make-out scenes. I think I might have reached a level where all my previous make-out scenes have become obsolete. This might seriously push the 'T' rating. Let me know what you think of it.**

**All I will tell you is this: It goes dangerously close to earning an 'M' rating. Why? Because I have been listening to Dirty South rap music for inspiration on how to make it as sexual as I can but still remain within the 'T' limits. And it's called 'Dirty' for a reason… If you are offended by extreme description of such things, turn back now.**

**And because some people have expressed some concern… THIS IS NOT AND WILL NEVER BE A LEMON!!! GOT IT? **

**And I'm happy. I get to go see Borat this weekend! Yay! Lol. Yay…**

**Still don't own Avatar.**

**Ch.19**

Katara was still gaping at the ring in Aang's hand. "Where did you- How did you- When did you-."

Aang counted of the questions he answered on his fingers, a smile plastered on his face. "Here, earthbending, and when you were taking a bath." Aang stole a glance in her direction. "So, um… I'm still waiting for an answer…"

Katara chuckled lightly. "I didn't really think you needed one." She leaned in and kissed him softly. "Yes, of course I'll be your girlfriend." She kissed him gently once more. "If you'll be my boyfriend."

Aang's wide smile was back. This time it was he who gave her a soft kiss. "Sounds fair." He said in his usual joking tone.

Aang slid the ring onto Katara's finger slowly. He couldn't help but notice the grin she had on.

"So, do you like it?"

"Aang, I love it! It's beautiful! But- but why? You didn't have to make this to ask me to be your girlfriend."

"I know, but I wanted to give you something special. A ring seemed like it fit the occasion well."

Katara examined the ring on her finger from every possible angle and direction. Another smile made its way onto her face. "You know, technically, this might be considered an engagement ring."

Aang smiled at the idea, too. "I guess so. Aunt Wu said you'd marry a powerful bender. I'd like to think it's me."

"Me too." Katara was still smiling. "So when's the wedding?"

Aang laughed. "Not for a good long time. Not until well after the war and fighting has ended."

Katara's smile faded a bit. "What if that's not for a while? After the war's over, there will still be some fighting left. There always is."

Aang's grin started fading away, too. "I've thought it out. A _know _that Aunt Wu had to have meant me. So if it's guaranteed that we will be married, I'm going to wait as long as it is necessary for the fighting to stop, because that means that it's guaranteed that I won't lose you to the war."

Katara's smile was whole again. "You've thought our wedding out?"

Aang started to blush a little. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Umm, well, uh… I haven't thought it _all _out… But I've thought about it..."

Katara took Aang's hand. "I've thought about it, too." Aang smiled and his blush started receding. "And how do you know that Aunt Wu meant you in specific?"

All expressions that had been on Aang's face had been replaced with seriousness. "Do you doubt that I'm the one who you will marry?"

Katara went serious as well. "Not a chance."

Aang's smile was back. "That's how I know. You just have to believe in it."

Katara smiled, too. She nodded, agreeing to his statement. "So I guess I'm not just your girlfriend… I'm your fiancé." She said as she rested her head on Aang's shoulder.

"Fiancé…" He repeated to himself quietly. He then laughed softly.

"What?"

Aang looked out over the ocean. "I'm not a monk anymore…"

Katara raised her head slightly from Aang's shoulder so she could look at him in the eyes. "No. You're not." A soft smile tugged at her lips. "And I'm glad."

Aang gazed into her gorgeous blue sapphire-like eyes. "I am, too."

At this, they leaned towards each other in unison. They kissed softly and gently, almost chaste, just lovingly and caringly.

As they prolonged the kiss they also got more fervent and agitated, releasing all of the 'mood' that had been held up until then.

As the kiss started becoming more passionate and Katara started becoming more animated, Aang realized that he had never been the leader, he always let Katara start them off and then Aang would catch up later. Not tonight. Tonight he felt like taking the dominant role.

He gently laid them on the soft sand of the beach, Katara underneath him. He lightly ran his tongue along the contours of her upper lip, pleading for further access to her.

Katara parted her lips slightly; just enough so Aang could slip his tongue into her mouth. She was startled to find Aang being so take-charge, but there was something… exciting about it.

As soon as Katara parted her lips, Aang moved in and remembered how well she had reacted to him gently running his tongue along the soft, sensitive flesh of the inside of her lip. He tried it again and was pleased when he felt her tremble in pleasure underneath him.

Aang rolled them over so Katara was on top. He repositioned his hands, one gently running his fingers through her hair, the other running up and down her side, mapping out the delicate curves of her stunning body.

Aang was done teasing her. He went straight for her tongue as soon as he relocated his hands. He attacked and dueled with her tongue in her mouth, wrapping his around hers, lightly strutting along hers, sometimes moving away, to not neglect the other parts of her mouth.

As he was making another pass at the soft tissue of Katara's inner lip, Aang seemed to hit a sensitive spot. Katara let out a mewling whimper. This was enough to knock Aang out of control of his body and his hormones took over the situation once more.

The hand that had been carefully running up and down her curves moved down to lay on her butt, the other hand that was in her hair moved up to her head, firmly but gently pressing it against his.

Katara could also feel herself succumbing to the hormones governing her body's actions. All this closeness and intimacy… She felt both the physiological need and the physical need to return it with just as much heat and ferocity.

She placed one hand against his chest and the other hand on his head, absent-mindedly tracing the blue arrow.

At feeling Katara react to his touching in a positive fashion, his hormones begged and craved for more. He gently squeezed her buttock and pushed her closer to him, listening for any more of the delightful moans and squeals she was producing.

Their mouths' opened and closed in unison as they continued to chase this continuously heightening pleasure. Aang started to rub Katara's butt gently and she threw her head back in the unexpected pleasure that this produced. With Katara pulled away, Aang began to rain a fluttery of opened-mouth kisses down her face, to her neck, down to her collarbone and beginning to head lower… The hand that was on her butt had slowly made its way to her white sash…

Katara hissed in pleasure as soon as Aang had made his way down to her neck. She felt him gently pulling at her sash and pulled back slowly to look at him in the face. They were both a mess… Clothes wrinkled, heated looks on their faces, a look of burning desire in their eyes…

During this pause, while they were looking at each other, they began to put 2-and-2 together in their minds. They knew what they were doing and they knew what they wanted…

Slowly, realization set over the 2 of them. What they were about to do made its way into their brains… The look of passion left their faces and their eyes widened as they realized what had been happening together…

This feeling… This burning desire… What they had been feeling was _arousal_.

All color had been drained from their faces. They remained there, looking at each other for some time, trying to decide whether or not to say anything, each breathing heavily. After a while, Aang had to say something.

"We need to be more careful…" He said, still breathing deeply.

Katara nodded in silent agreement. "Yeah…" She whispered hoarsely, her throat feeling dry.

Aang gently and carefully lifted Katara off of him so he could stand up. Once on his feet, he offered her his hand to help her up off of the ground. When she was up, they kept their hands connected.

"Let's get back to the camp… It's getting too dark…"

The walked off, hands still intertwined. The color of their faces had returned, and then some, some crimson on their cheeks as they realized just how close they had been to getting seriously involved.

**Wow… This is 'T' to the limit. As I was writing it, I actually began feeling a little flustered…**

**I've said it before and I'll say it again: IT'S NOT A FREAKIN' LEMON! I'm writing this, their relationship working out the way a normal relationship between 2 teenagers would. There is a deep and understanding love between Aang and Katara, but when you re a teenager and the making-out starts, theirs only one thing on your mind… And that's straight from the mouth of a 15-year-old guy.**

**I seriously doubt that I need to ask for this chapter, but for the hell of it: REVIEW PLEASE!!!**


	21. Chapter 20

**I warned you that it would be descriptive, didn't I? About Aang being able to stop, I told you that it wouldn't be a lemon. I don't want it to be a lemon. I also figured that Aang had to show a certain amount of self-control, considering that all this stuff was still clearly branded in his mind as 'wrong' by the monks.**

**And about the 'Sokka and Toph' chapter… This is it. I'll continue with Aang and Katara next time.**

**The Sokka and Toph chapter… It's actually pretty much a Toph chapter only. It's basically Aang and Katara viewed from a 3rd person perspective. **

**THIS 3RD PERSON IS CRUDE AND MEAN! SHE WILL SAY RUDE AND UNNECESSARY THINGS! YE BE WARNED!!!**

**I don't own Avatar.**

**Ch.20**

**(The Sokka and Toph Chapter)**

_A few hours ago…_

"A SEA SPONGE?!" Sokka cried out to the sky, cursing his luck. He, who tended to be a pessimist, gave up on catching food. He was now tired, wet, and hungry. That had to be the only thing that could convince him to eat fruit. So he did.

He made his way to the shore with his equipment, muttering unkind things about The Ocean and the creatures that live in it.

On his way back to the cave he grabbed whatever fruit seemed edible off of whatever trees were in his way. When he got back to the cave, he had a small bag-full of different looking fruits.

As he entered, he saw Toph sitting on the ground against the wall, her face in her hands.

"Hey Toph, you alright?" He asked dropping the bag on the ground.

Toph heard his voice and her head shot out of her hands, some red still on her cheeks from her previous thoughts. _(Chapter 14, last paragraph)_

"Oh, I uh… Didn't feel you come in…" She forced her blush away. Her face changed to an expression of confusion. "Are you wet?"

Sokka's face went grim. "Don't ask…"

Knowing Sokka, she probably wouldn't even want to ask. "Alright… So, where's lunch?"

"In the bag I dropped on the floor."

Toph got up off of the floor. Before she even got close to it, she noticed the smell of fruit. "Didn't you go fishing?"

"…"

"… And… that's why you're wet…" She spoke slowly, as if trying to comprehend what she was saying. A moment of silence ensued, followed by loud hysterical laughter from Toph.

"It's not that funny!" Sokka yelled, still aggravated from his fishing trip gone wrong.

"Yes it is!" Toph said while still laughing. "How does one fish do that to you?"

"It wasn't _one _fish! It was a bunch of fishes! And some seaweed. And a sea sponge."

This just made Toph laugh louder. It got to the point where she couldn't laugh because she couldn't breathe. Sokka gave up on it eventually and just walked away to eat something.

Once Toph's respiratory system was back in full working order and she had laughed her last laugh, she walked over to the bag and grabbed a random fruit. She did her best to sit, facing directly at Sokka. It was time to ask a few questions.

"When are we getting out of here? Aang and Katara are together already, we can leave."

Sokka took another bite out of his fruit. "We have to wait until they find us. If we go to them and it _just so happens _that we found them _after _they got together, they'll figure out that this was all our idea. They'd kill us."

"Or thank us."

"Either way, I wouldn't want to find out what they'd do. Not when the first one is still a possibility."

Toph began to peel the skin off of the fruit the best she could with her fingers. "So what do we do until then?"

Sokka was already on his second fruit. "Sleep. Eat. Spy on them. Make sure that I don't kill Aang."

Toph took the first bite out of her fruit and gagged. She chucked it behind her and decided that it might be safer to not eat anything that Sokka picked.

"How are you eating that?" She asked him, still trying to get the taste out of her mouth.

"By pretending that it's blubbered seal jerky." He replied, taking another large bite out of his fruit.

Toph stood up and walked to the cave's entrance. "I'm not hungry anymore. I'm gonna go check up Aang and Katara."

"I thought that you wanted to leave them alone."

"No, I wanted _you _to leave them alone. You're afraid that Aang's going to do your sister. I'm just worried for their safety."

He was about to retort angrily to her comment about Aang and Katara, but realized she had already left. He returned his attention to his fruit.

----------

Okay, so Toph lied. She wasn't just worried about them… This was a good chance to find something to hold over the couple for years. Toph knew a good opportunity when she saw one (it's a figure of speech, I know, I know: 'SHE'S BLIND, YOU IDIOT!'), and this was one of them. There's no greater weapon than blackmail.

She felt the vibrations caused by footsteps off in the distance. She could make it out as both Aang and Katara, they were moving together slowly, as if looking for something. Toph figured that they were looking for her and Sokka.

As she began to approach the couple, her heightened sense of hearing could make out their conversation. Something about all the random crap that they've had to deal with on their travels… A few had caught her interest, like the ones that happened before she joined the gang. The 'giant water monster awesome spirit attack thing' seemed interesting enough. No one liked to talk much about what happened at the North Pole. She knew that Sokka had some issues about someone who died there. And then Aang had to talk to someone in the Spirit World, something that he was told must have scared him _(Koh, about the woman one of the past Avatars loved). _She knew that Katara had almost lost Aang, and knowing how much Katara cared for him, it wasn't surprising that she didn't want to recall any of it.

As she continued to approach them, she could begin to 'see' them with vibrations. She ducked down behind anything that she could, following the two. All of the sudden, she felt Katara push Aang up against a tree. Hard. She pushed her face up against his.

_Damn! Katara's going to hurt him if she does that again! _Toph thought to herself. The strong resonating vibrations she picked up from where they were didn't seem too pleasant. _I'm sure that Aang doesn't really mind, though. _She reminded herself, a smirk moving up onto her face.

She felt the vibrations caused by the slight movements of Aang's hands. One was slowly making its way down Katara's back, only to stop at Katara's waist.

_Aww, c'mon Aang! Don't be the clean guy! Go for it!_

She was disrupted from her thoughts when she felt another series of intense vibrations. Katara had just thoroughly pressed herself up against Aang, and Toph could have sworn that her heightened hearing picked up a strangled moan from Aang.

She felt the vibrations as the hand that was on Katara's waist slid lower… If Toph hadn't known better, she would have jumped up and started howling, cheering them on. She struggled to keep her laughter down.

The next thing Katara did almost had Toph crying out in laughter. Aang finally made his way down, and Katara pulls away…

_You're an evil woman, Katara…_

Toph listened to the conversation they had, continuously stifling laughs at picking up the hints extreme frustration in Aang's voice. Then she began listening to Katara. She was doing a good job of disguising her feelings, but not good enough. To Toph, it was clear that Katara was having fun with this.

The next thing she heard brought blood up to her cheeks, no matter how hard Toph attempted to keep it down. Katara… What she said… It was unexpected, to say the least.

_Tonight?! What the hell's gonna happen tonight?! Don't do anything stupid!_

Toph was a little more relieved when she heard Aang go all responsible, and then she began to laugh again at feeling Katara punch Aang's arm, telling him that 'that' wasn't really what she had in mind.

_What do you mean 'romantic evening alone'?! … Stop teasing him before you do some damage._

Aang didn't really take too hard to the dirty trick, but he still complained that Katara cut off the kiss so suddenly.

This next part, Toph had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing out loud. Katara had just stepped as close as possible to Aang and began whispering what the night would have in store for him in a seductive tone. Then she suddenly turned and walked off, leaving Aang standing there, his face a bright red, his breaths shaky and unstable.

Toph was still trying to keep from bursting out in laughter. Her only thoughts were on how evil Katara was being to Aang.

_Katara's gonna badly blue-ball the kid in a few years… So… Tonight… That'll be too good to miss!_

**--------- (a few hours later)**

Toph had asked Sokka to tell her when the sun was setting. When he asked why, she told him that it was a part of an old earthbending training schedule that she had, and that she was so bored that she'd rather practice than stay in the cave with him all day.

Sokka took it just as Toph hoped that he would. He got angry and paid no attention to where she was going.

Toph began heading towards Aang and Katara's campsite, but stopped when she heard voices coming from somewhere near the shore.

She approached them, but stayed away from the sand. She got behind a tree and began to listen in.

It was mostly sappy mushy-gushy crap. Aang had given Katara a ring, Katara sounded like she would faint, they talked about getting married some day, blah blah blah.

The action finally started and Toph straightened up, straining her hearing to pick up as much information as she could, since she could not 'see' on the sand. The moment any garment of clothing came off of either one of them, she would begin planning on how to use that to her advantage some day.

Toph got bored quickly. There weren't many sounds to assume things off of. At the moment, Toph could tell that they were just kissing softly, to go along with their conversation about them.

_What happened to 'Tonight'? Weren't you guys gonna make-out or something? C'mon, blackmail only works if you guys do something wrong._

Toph easily lost her patience and turned to walk away. Just as she was about to leave, she felt a weak and distant vibration. It felt like someone was… shivering. She took her place back at the tree.

_Okay… Now which one of you did that?_

Toph felt another faint vibration, this one feeling like someone rolling on the ground. It didn't take much guessing to figure out that the action had picked up.

But the question was still left, _'Who shivered? If this is gonna be blackmail, I need to know the person responsible'_

The answer came quickly enough. Toph heard Katara release a soft whimper, followed by several vibrations.

Even though they were on sand and Toph couldn't 'see' them that well, all the vibrations could only mean that they were getting more into it. It was difficult to tell the differences, but she could tell that it was Aang who was moving the most.

_Wow… Twinkle-Toes is being the aggressive one… And by the sound of it, I think Katara likes it!_

The thought made her laugh for a moment but it was all brought to a screeching halt when she heard the next thing.

Whatever Aang was doing, Katara enjoyed it. She let out a distinct hissing sound that Toph could tell was caused by large amounts of pleasure coursing through her body. _(In the Prologue it mentions Toph being able to pick up emotion and feeling in voices)_

The vibration was faint and weak, the grand majority of it lost in the sand, but after concentrating on it enough, Toph was able to 'see' that Aang was tugging on a piece of fabric attached to Katara.

These two were her friends, and it was wrong to think of what they could be doing, but Toph couldn't help the massive blush that now covered nearly her entire upper body.

Much to Toph's relief, the vibrations stopped. Toph heard them talking about being more careful when the heat gets too high.

Toph sighed in relief. For a moment, she had thought that her friends would go too far, but forgot that they're smart people. They wouldn't risk anything like this. Not when the world was still depending on them. And not when they were so young.

She decided that after what happened, stalking them for possible blackmail material wasn't such a good idea. She began to return to the cave, making a mental note to not reveal anything that she had heard that night to Sokka. For Aang's and Katara's sake.

**Okay, it might not have been the best chapter, but I needed to make up for Sokka and Toph's absences.**

**And, just a side note, the last chapter (Chapter 19) was probably the highest the story will get in the rating factor. That is, until something better crosses my mind. Lol. **

**And, just in case there are any thick-skulled people who still don't get it: THERE WILL BE NO 'M' RATED CONTENT IN THIS STORY!!**

**I as a person believe that premarital sex is wrong. And I as a teenager also believe that it is incredibly easy to get carried away. So the solution to these 2 contradicting things? Have them get dangerously close to it, only to realize that it is wrong. And thus, Chapter 19 was born.**

**Just one more time… IT WON'T BE A FREAKIN' LEMON!!!**

**Okay.**

**Oh, before I forget, if any of you were looking forward to the sequel of _"The Life of a Monk," _you'll have to wait a while. It was pretty much a side project for when I needed a break from this story.**

**But, I might as well give you some facts. It will be a 3 part series, the sequels will be different fics, not added chapters. All the kataang fluff will be in the 3rd installment. The 2nd will be centered primarily around Katara.**


	22. Chapter 21

**So, I'm late to update once more. There's some construction being done on my house, and the workers had to cut power to a part of the house, leaving my computer off and my files unavailable. **

**In the meantime, I tried to write a kataang songfic based on the song _'I Want You Back'_ by the Jackson 5 **_('cause 70's music rules all)_**on my dad's computer, but I failed miserably. So, whatever. Sorry to keep you waiting for this story.**

**The reason I've been making a big deal out of the 'this is not a lemon' thing is because I continuously get emails **_(usually anonymous, from non-reviewers)_** asking if there will be any adult scenes. So for any stubborn people left, this story won't be a lemon, and stop asking before I change my email address.**

**I don't own Avatar.**

**Ch.21**

Aang and Katara had been making their way back to their campsite in silence, still thinking about the awkward situation they were both placed in just minutes earlier. Their faces were pretty much glowing red, and although they knew that they needed to talk about it, it was a bit of an uncomfortable subject, and neither knew how to approach it.

Once back at the campsite, there was still an unnerving silence between the two of them. It was too early to go to sleep, the sun having entirely set just a few moments ago. Aang sat on the ground, and Katara followed, sitting right next to him. They remained silent, staring into oblivion, neither knowing how to start _the_ conversation… Or _any _conversation for that matter.

Once this went on for long enough, Aang saw no other way to start this off. They _needed_ to talk about this.

"So……" Aang trailed off, just trying to get each other to start talking. For some unknown reason, the blush had made its way back to Aang's face

"Yeah… So…" Katara's blush was beginning to return as well.

More silence filled the air. They both shifted uncomfortably on the ground, hoping that the other would talk first. Once this went on long enough, Aang got too impatient to keep waiting around.

"Damn it, we can't ignore that it happened. It did. But we stopped in time. Nothing serious occurred, so can we stop acting like this?"

Katara sighed. "You're right. But it's just… I don't know…"

"Weird?"

Katara looked him in the eyes, the first time since the incident. "Yeah, weird. But, not weird. What we were about to do…"

"Yeah… I'm sorry…"

"Sorry? Why sorry?"

Aang looked at her, confused. "I told you, when I get like that… It's like I'm there but I'm not in control. I'm just… sorry. I don't want to do anything that you don't want me to do. I can't lie, though, up until the point where we realized what we were doing," Aang's blush intensified greatly. "I kinda liked it…" He said in a weak, ashamed voice.

For the first time since the incident, Katara laughed. "Then I guess I'm sorry, too."

Aang looked confused again. "Why?"

"What, did you think that you were the only one enjoying yourself back there?" She asked, her cheeks growing warmer.

At this point, it was physically impossible for Aang's face and neck to get any redder. But, he managed to find something to laugh about. "I should very well hope I wasn't."

They both laughed quietly, enjoying the fact that they were managing to talk about it without trailing off on every second word.

When the laughing stopped and the quietness became unbearable once more, Aang broke the silence again.

"Like we said, we'll just need to be more careful."

"Yeah, and we will be." Katara said with a gentle smile. She stood up and Aang followed. "Well, there's not much left to do. Let's get some rest. We'll need to actually look for Sokka and Toph tomorrow." She took Aang's hand and began walking towards the tent, but Aang resisted.

"I can't go in there with you. Not after what happened at the beach."

Katara pouted in protest. "We said we'd be careful and we will be. Just because we'll be in the same tent doesn't mean that anything has to happen. Now c'mon."

Katara forcibly pulled Aang into their small tent made of palm tree branches. Aang forced a grunt of disapproval but was really smiling about it, and Katara knew it.

"Okay, okay, fine, I'll go in. I only have one good arm left, stop trying to pull it out of its socket!"

Katara laughed and let go of his arm. Aang rotated his shoulder, resulting in a loud popping sound, expressions of pain on Aang's face, and several stifled giggles from Katara, followed by Aang sending her an angry glare which was quickly replaced with a broad smile.

When Aang got to the entrance of their small tent, he pulled on the palm branch that made their 'door' and motioned for Katara to enter first. Once he was inside, Katara was already on the ground, looking for a comfortable spot as she constantly turned over, looking for a comfy way to use her arm as a pillow.

Aang laughed silently at the sight and lied down next to her on his good arm, extending it towards her so that both he and she could use it to support their heads.

Katara saw him and stopped tossing around to smile sweetly at him. "Thanks." She said as she rested her head on his arm. She turned over to look at him. "You don't have to be so far away, you know."

Aang had left a good foot or two in-between them, still worried that such close contact could spark another event like the previous one. He scooted a little closer to her, but not much. Katara rolled her eyes and scuttled up close to him.

At first, Aang thought it was a bad idea. He thought that the safest way to guard against what had happened was to remove all temptation.

But when Katara moved closer to him, so close that her nose gently grazed his when she settled down next to him, all those thoughts were gone. The only thing that had his attention was Katara. He didn't blush from the contact between the 2 of them, he wasn't embarrassed by their close proximity, all he was aware of was this wondrous creature that had somehow been able to accept his love and love him back.

He got that feeling in his chest again; it made him feel heavy but light-headed at the same time. It was a feeling that left him warm and calm and serene. It only came when he was around her, and it only made him want to be with her more. It made him feel complete; it made him feel like his duties as the Avatar were nothing more than an annoying chore. It intoxicated him from inside out, and it clouded his thoughts until Katara was the only thing on his mind. It made him wonder how he could have ever lived without this sensation that currently occupied all his senses. When he felt like this, he knew that any challenge could be overcome, as long as he was doing it for her.

This sensation left no doubt in his mind that the great emotion that people refer to as 'love' was coursing through his body, and it was coursing through his body because of her. She was his reason to feel, she was his reason to be the Avatar, and she was his reason to live. Any and all problems took back seat, as long as they weren't her problems. This was the great emotion of love, and it filled him up until nothing else was on his mind.

And the only other thing that could bring a smile to his face was the knowledge that she felt the same way.

Less than a second had transpired since Katara moved closer to him. She was looking at him intently, waiting for a reaction. She was surprised when all she got was the warmest smile he had ever given her.

It was odd, but that smile… It radiated something so intense that it made Katara feel emotional. She smiled and noticed her vision blurring slightly, a tear forming in her eye. She blinked it back.

"I love you." Aang moved his head just a little closer to her and laid a small, gentle kiss upon her lips. It was a phenomenon he could not explain, but when he pulled back to rest his head on his arm once again, a tear rolled down the side of his face. "I love you so much."

Katara stopped blinking and let a tear roll down her face to match his. "And I love you. With all my heart."

Aang struggled with it, but was able to put his bandaged arm around Katara, to gently pull her closer to him. She snuggled into the warmth. They both closed their eyes and were lulled into a deep, restful sleep, smiles still gracing their faces.

**On the count of 3, say it with me. 1… 2… 3! Awwwww!!! **

**I don't know how I wrote this, but I did. And I liked it. And I believe that I have just proved to the world that men don't have only one thing on their minds. Now they have 2. Lol.**

**I needed this. Very badly. Ever since that stupid commercial, Kataang has been slowing down and Zutara has been gaining momentum. But, the Zuatarians are celebrating too early. The same thing happened on the commercial for _'The Waterbending Scroll'_ when Zuko said "I'll protect you from the pirates." Every Zutarian in the fandom went crazy and started foaming at the mouth. Then the episode came and they were all left sad and depressed.**

**That's probably what will happen now. From a freeze-frame of the commercial, when Katara is touching Zuko's scar, her other hand is holding the Spirit Oasis amulet. She's just trying to heal his scar. It doesn't mean they're in love.**

**So if any Zutarian starts going crazy over this thing too early, tell them about the freeze-frame and fight back for your fellow Kataang shippers. If they want war, we'll give 'em war!**


	23. Chapter 22

**Holy Canolli! The site's FINALLY back up! I got so bored I began to write a new story and a few new oneshots. I even got so bored as to review my own story in an attempt to stay in communication with the rest of the community!**

**Ehhh, oh well. What can you do? It's nice to be able to update again. It seems like everyone else has been busy writing, too, huh?**

**Whatever. This story is seriously getting to the point where Aang and Katara should find Sokka and Toph soon. Whether I continue the story after that in a sequel or this same fic will be up to you guys.**

**Me no-no own Avatar.**

**Ch.22**

It is late at night and the young, loving couple lay fast asleep in their small tent. Aang lies with his arm slung over Katara's waist, keeping her close and warm. In what would otherwise be considered a very calm and restful sleep, the young Avatar's eyelids twitch slightly, and the blue arrows tattooed on his body began to glow…

**---------- (spirit world) ----------**

Aang's eyes fluttered open and he found himself lying on a patch of ground in the middle of a murky swamp-land. Aang slowly began to stand up. He recognized this place as the Spirit World, where he had traveled in hopes of recruiting the Moon's and Ocean's help in an attempt to thwart the Fire Nation's siege on the North Pole.

"Hello, Aang." Avatar Roku had appeared before him just as he had before, as a reflection in the water.

"Avatar Roku? Why am I here? Is something wrong?"

Roku's image had risen out of the water and took the form of his actual body. "No, nothing's wrong, but it is imperative that we speak. There have been recent… events… that must be discussed."

Aang's eyes widened in realization. "Is it about Katara?"

Roku nodded. "Yes, some of it."

Aang bit his lip and thought about what must be said. "I don't expect you to understand, but I can't leave her. I love her. I know that no Avatar is supposed to be allowed to love but-."

"Aang, calm down. I said nothing was wrong. But we must still speak. Come, walk with me."

A narrow trail of land had appeared in the murky water, and Roku led Aang along it as they discussed some recent happenings.

"So, if it's about Katara and nothing's wrong, what is it?" Aang asked, wondering what was so important that he was brought into the Spirit World in his sleep.

"It is rather embarrassing to say… As you know, you are the last remaining Airbender."

"Right…"

Roku had desperately hoped that Aang would have caught on. "Well… The great Spirits have made an exception. You will be allowed to remain with Katara, but only if she does not interfere with your duties. They are allowing this relationship because the fate of the Airbenders depends on it."

"How so?" Aang asked, blithely unaware of what the elder Avatar was attempting to convey.

"Must you be so difficult?" Roku asked, exasperated. "I mean to say that it is up to you and Katara to save the Avatar cycle. You must have children. At least one must be an Airbender. Preferably more. And again, at least one must master Airbending."

Aang's face was now flushed with embarrassment. "Uhh, we're a bit too young…"

"Yes, you are. But when the two of you believe that you are ready, it will be expected of you."

Aang's face was a good few degrees warmer than the rest of his body. He and Katara had to 'do the deed' because it was his responsibility to make sure that his people lived on. Well that's not something that a kid hears every day…

"Umm… Okay." That was all Aang could bring himself to say. It wasn't something that he was willing to openly discuss with someone he didn't really know all too well. Even if Roku was, in essence, Aang in a previous life.

"Very well then, now that _that _is out of the way… There is more. You have the ability to freely firebend now, correct?"

"Yes." Aang looked away for a moment, contemplating on a question. "Why? Why can I do it now?"

"For two reasons that I would know of. The first is simpler; Jeong Jeong had told you that you wouldn't be ready to firebend until you had mastered the other three elements. You are very close to doing so. The ability is manifesting itself inside you."

That seemed logical, but it wasn't enough to explain it. "Okay, and the second reason?"

Avatar Roku smiled slightly, something he never does. "Katara." He said simply, like it was all the reason in the world.

"What does she have to do with it?"

"Everything. Firebending is caused by emotion; it seems that you finally admitting your feelings for her had its side effects. You can now more calmly and easily control your emotions, now that the weight of your secret has been lifted."

"If I can firebend because of her, why am I afraid to do it around her?"

"Aang, you may be the Spirit of the Earth, but you are still human. When one hurts someone they care about, the emotional scars don't heal easily. However, they could heal faster, if you accepted her help."

Aang looked away again, feeling ashamed. "She's tried to help, but I'm not ready yet. It- It scares me, to firebend around her. Whenever I even think about it, I remember…" He trailed of and shuddered slightly as the image of Katara's burnt hands and scared face made its way back into his mind.

Hesitantly, Avatar Roku attempted to place a comforting hand on Aang's shoulder. When Aang looked up at him, Roku was wearing a painfully obvious forced and uncomfortable smile. The sight actually lifted Aang's mood, he began to laugh when he saw it.

"I'm trying to be consoling." Roku said dryly and irritated.

Aang's smile only grew. "You could use some practice."

Avatar Roku's expression went back to his usual stone-faced seriousness. "I understand that you are upset because you accidentally hurt her, but remember what I said. The Spirits will only stand for this relationship as long as she does not interfere with your duties. That involves the mastering of all four elements, Fire included. You must master Fire before you face Ozai. You cannot choose to ignore it. Not because of her."

Aang's facial features hardened as well, revealing the side of him that acts much older than he is. "I understand. I will do my best, Avatar Roku." Aang bowed politely. When he came back up, he appeared to be back to his 13-year old self. "So, uhh, how do I get out of here?"

"How did you do it last time?"

Aang tried to recall his previous experience. "Hei Bei shot some kind of blue beam at me, and then I just went back."

Avatar Roku said nothing, but pointed to something behind Aang. He turned around to look and, as if on cue, Hei Bei was standing right there.

"He will lead you back once more." was Avatar Roku's only good-bye. His body returned to the water, and he was once again a reflection, slowly fading away.

Aang faced the giant panda-spirit and climbed onto his neck. "Okay, get me out of here."

**----------(Real World)----------**

Aang's eyes blinked open. He was lying where he always was, in the small tent he and Katara were temporarily sharing. She slept with her back facing him, and his left arm was draped over her waist. His head rested up against the crook of her neck.

His eyes and brain now caught up with the rest of his body, which was wide awake. His first thoughts were something along the lines of _'this is the way I want to wake up every morning.' _He smiled and, although she wasn't awake, he placed a soft kiss against her cheek. He felt the same rushing flood of emotion he had the night before. It would leave him content for life if he could just stay there, with Katara in his arms, with no need to ever leave or break the moment.

But all good things must come to an end. With a quiet sigh, he began to gently lift his arm off of her, careful not to wake Katara up. He silently climbed out of the tent and stretched, cracking whatever joints hadn't already popped. He looked over at sun, and saw it just starting to peak over the horizon. By his schedule, he slept in unbelievably late.

He next checked his wounded arm, carefully unwrapping the bandage. The wound looked clean and infection-free. He cleaned the piece of cloth the best he could in the stream and re-tied it around his wound.

He stole another glance back at the tent and found himself smiling once more. Nothing could compare to how he felt the night before, no emotion could ever take its place. He needed it. He couldn't live without it.

He looked out at the sun once more. Today would be a good day. The Spirits allowed his relationship with Katara to take place, he left the Spirit World a little wiser, and also with an awkward conversation waiting to happen between him and Katara, and he now realized, after the night before, just how much he really loved Katara. Up until then, it was mostly just surface feelings, desires and pleasures. Now he understood, and as soon as Katara woke up, he would be there to greet her with this newfound outlook on their growing relationship.

He was even confident that they would find their friends today.

Yep, today would be a good day.

**Okay, yes, I'm still drawing on what apparently was a great success with that mushy gushy stuff. I liked it too; it leaves you feeling all tingly inside. The conversation between Katara and Aang, that'll be funny.**

**Reviews Please!!**


	24. Chapter 23

**Late update, I know. I seem to be getting lazier with each chapter written. But I've also been working on a huge Algebra project. And English project. And Health project. So… Yeah.**

**Oh well. It's going to be a really long wait until next season. So until then, I guess we'll need to get our Kataang fix from this site.**

**About all of these suggestions for how Aang and Katara find Toph and Sokka, I already know how I'm going to do it, now I just need to work my way there. That's always the hard part of any fic, isn't it?**

**Okay, in the last chapter I meant to say that the _idea_ of the conversation between Aang and Katara would be funny. This isn't that comedic… I tried though. There's not that much comedy you can stuff into a traumatized announcement.**

**------**

**Not to rip off anyone's ideas, but I've seen some song quotes up in the author's notes of some peoples stories, and I know a few that could apply to this story. **

**_Everybody needs somebody_**

**_Everybody needs somebody to love_**

**_Someone to love (someone to love)_**

**_Sweetheart to miss (sweetheart to miss)_**

**_Sugar to kiss (sugar to kiss)_**

**_I need you (you), you (you), you (you)_**

**_I need you (you), you (you), you (you)_**

**_I need you (you), you (you), you (you) In the Morning!_**

**_(you) (you) (you) When my soul's on fire!_**

**-Everybody Needs Somebody to Love- by Joliet Jake and Elwood Blues; The Blues Brothers (lol, I know.)**

**Ch.23**

Katara's eyes fluttered open. She woke up with a smile, telling herself that she hadn't slept better a night in her life. She turned over a little, hoping to see her love sleeping happily next to her. Her smile faltered a little when she realized that he wasn't there in the tent. She quickly reminded herself that Aang wakes very early, and that he's probably outside, waiting for her.

She began to get up and move towards the exit of their small tent. She emerged from the entrance and stretched a little, yawning as she did so.

Aang had been sitting by the stream, meditating on the things he had been told in the Spirit World, the majority of his thoughts revolving around how he will tell Katara their new 'task.' Sure, they had already talked about getting married and such, but _kids_? Wasn't it kind of early to be talking about such things? How would she react? Would she be angry? Would she be frightened? What if she took the news well? What if she liked the idea? What if she'd be happy?

He was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard Katara yawn somewhere near the tent. He pushed past all his thoughts and began to get up. All he wanted to do now was be with the one he loved.

Katara saw him walking over.

"Good morning." She said through the yawn.

Aang smiled and walked right up to her. He took her by surprise, and with one swift motion, he dipped her, laced his left hand with her right one, and kissed her strongly, causing her to feel light in the head and slightly dizzy. She looked startled but happy at the same time. He pulled away slightly so his lips hovered about an inch above hers.

"Good morning." He replied, sounding very serious and straight-faced, but at the same time sounding gentle, loving, and caring. He lifted her back into an upright position and she stumbled back a little, still feeling a little wobbly from his powerful kiss.

"Wow… What was that for?" She asked softly and with a beautiful smile, still sounding a little woozy.

"Because I love you." He spoke as softly as she did, with a small, gentle smile upon his face.

Katara stood there, with that same small smile. "Oh." Was all she said before her smile grew. "Well, in that case…" She leaned into him and put her arms around Aang's neck, and kissed him as strongly as he had done to her. She pulled away slowly, a lovely smile tugging at her lips as she watched a happy grin form on Aang's.

"I love you, too." She said, putting every ounce of truth and sincerity she could behind the words, because they deserved them so much. She remembered the smile Aang had given her the night before, the one that was so warm and comforting and full of love that it had made her tear up. She would give up anything and everything to be able to feel like that every day of her life.

It was another action that he could not explain, he just did it. Aang closed the distance between the two of them and scooped Katara up in a tender embrace. His arms snaked around her and she melted in his hold, wrapping her arms around him and returning the hug. She bowed her head a little with a contended sigh and Aang placed a gentle kiss upon her forehead.

"You know, I never would've guessed it, but that sounded even better today than it did yesterday." Aang murmured into her hair, referring to her _'I love you.' _He allowed his eyes to close and just stand there with Katara in his arms, living the moment happily and satisfied and entirely relaxed, temporarily forgetting about the war and the conversation he needed to have with her, forgetting about the rest of the world and any troubles they now or may soon face. Right now, it was only him and her and their moment to share.

Slowly, Aang began to remember what he needed to tell her. It wasn't something that could be put off until later. Roku said that it was things like this that he couldn't let get in the way of his duties. He wasn't really sure if talking with Katara about having kids counted as one of his 'duties,' but it was best to play it safe…

"Katara?" He mumbled into her hair, sad that the moment would have to come to an end.

"Hmm?" She raised her head to look at him curiously, wondering why he had spoiled the moment that he had created.

It pained him to do it, but he had to break away from the embrace. He made sure that the words _'I'm sorry'_ were written all over his face, he wanted her to know that it wasn't his decision to pull away. Not wanting to break contact entirely, he held both of her hands in his.

He didn't know how he would start off, so he started from the beginning.

"Last night, while we were sleeping, I was brought into the Spirit World." Aang tried to keep any tone of graveness out of his voice; he didn't want to worry Katara over nothing.

Katara's curious expression was now replaced with concern. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, yeah. Everything's alright. Better than alright, actually." Aang wanted to start off on a light note, making sure that he didn't convey anything that might seem grim or severe.

"Okay… So why'd you go?"

"Umm, Avatar Roku needed to talk to me." Aang looked into Katara's eyes. "About us."

Katara straightened up slightly. "Us…" She repeated quietly.

"Yeah, but nothing's wrong remember? He needed to tell me that… umm…" Aang began stumbling over his words as he came to realize that saying this would be more difficult than he had thought.

"Tell you what?"

"It's, uhh, kinda embarrasing." He said, sounding somewhat like Avatar Roku for a moment. "He said that we need to… We need to, um… have…"

At this point, Katara thought Aang was just being silly. "Aang, how embarrassing could it be? Just tell me."

"Very embarrassing, actually. It wasn't something I was expecting to hear, and I don't think it's something you'll be expecting to hear, either. The Spirits… They want us… When were older… They want us to…"

"C'mon Aang, what can the Spirits possibly make you do that's so embarrassing?"

"Oh no, doing it isn't the embarrassing part, it's telling you that we're being forced into it by other-worldly creatures that's embarrassing."

"Aang, tell me. I don't care if it's embarrassing to me or you or anyone else. Just stop being so hesitant so we can get back to holding each other." She said with a smile, eager to reestablish their embrace.

"You'd be pretty damn hesitant too if you got the order to impregnate the person you've only been dating for a day." At first Aang thought it to be a good argument, at least until he realized that he had just told her of their new 'assignment.'

Any expression that was on Katara's face had fallen off and was now replaced with a blank stare. "You're kidding right?"

All Aang could do was shake his head. "They want you and me to have kids when we're older and 'save the airbenders' or something. I told you it was embarrassing…" Up until this point, Aang had been trying his best to keep from making eye contact with Katara, not knowing what her reaction would be. When he didn't hear her say anything, he looked up at her, waiting for a response.

"Katara…?" He asked, unsure of whether he should have or not. She hadn't blown up in anger… But she hasn't really expressed any form of delight, either.

Katara looked up at Aang when she heard her name. She could see the concerned look on his face and all she could think to do was smile reassuringly. "How many?"

At first Aang was worried because she hadn't shown any form of negative emotion, but thought past it and only focused on the fact that she was smiling.

"I- I don't know. All Avatar Roku said was we needed to have kids. At least one had to be an airbender. 'Preferably more' was what he said…"

Katara could understand why it was so embarrassing… But wow. This… This was news. Aang's initial delivery of the statement could have been worded better… But wow. Kids? Did she really want kids with Aang? Of course she did, and she knew it. She would want nothing more than to raise a family with him. Maybe it was because they were talking about it so early, or maybe it was because the fate of an entire race was suddenly their responsibility to see out, but this was shocking. It was a happy thing, but shocking…

Katara couldn't find the right words to describe how she felt to Aang, so she decided she would just show him. She dove back into his arms.

Aang was taken aback when Katara jumped back into their embrace, but he returned the hug anyways. It wasn't something that he would grow bored of. Ever.

"So I guess you took it well?" Aang asked with a smile after he lightly kissed her on the cheek.

Katara just giggled softly in response. She rested her forehead against his and let herself become fully immersed in the moment. Seemingly out of nowhere, she began to speak.

"Shen and Yun."

Aang pulled back slightly so he could look at her. "Hmm?"

"Names. For our kids." She clarified with a smile. "Shen means 'smile.' Yun means 'luck.' Two things that we've had a lot of since we got stuck here."

Aang smiled widely. "Two?"

"Assuming that one of them is an airbender. I want at least one waterbender." Katara admitted with a sly grin.

Aang laughed whole-heartedly. "And what if the first two are airbenders or non-benders?"

The next thing would bring blood up to her face, but this was just too good an opportunity to let the answer slide. "Well…" She began before lightly pecking him on the lips. "We could always try for more."

Aang's head glowed red. He suddenly stepped out of the hug. "Okay… That's enough close contact for now."

Katara laughed.

**I've fallen into a mush-pit. So much mushy stuff… It's EVERYWHERE!!! Ahhhh! Lol, okay.**

**The names really mean what I wrote. I assume Shen would be a boy's name and Yun would be a girl's name. Sounds about right like that.**

**So how 'bout that finale? All's I know is Aang better confess his feelings soon, these episodes just had way too much to do with Aang loving Katara for him to not say anything. But if I had to guess, the creators will leave things unsaid until book 4 or something. You know, to make it even _more_ dramatic.**

**And what about Black Sun? I can see 2 things happening when the day arrives, either the Fire Nation never lets the invasion start, or they assemble a massive defensive and the invasion fails. All I can say is that the Earth King is a freakin' moron. Hasn't he ever heard of the term 'National Security'? Damn man, learn something about secrecy. **

**So… I don't really have anything else to say… Uhhh… … … Okay…**

**Reviews please!**


	25. Chapter 24

**My parents were surprisingly gentle with my grounding. I think all there anger was used up when they found out that my sister had failed one of her college exams. There wasn't much fury left in them. All they did was disable my internet for a while.**

**This should be really close to the end now. I mean it this time. I'm not going to say how many chapters to go, because I've already proven that I can't keep up with these updates, so I'm not going to make any false promises. But it will be soon. I don't want new readers to start reading this story because I am so ashamed of the earlier chapters that I actually re-read them to prove to myself that I'm becoming a better writer. Really, I'm sorry for putting you guys through that.**

**So yeah. Sorry for the mega-long delay. I've actually been able to use the computer for some time now, but I was just too lazy or busy to get started on this chapter. My grades are seriously suffering, mostly due to my lack of attention span to be able to do homework. So, homework has taken Priority 1 (lol, no, it was never on my priorities list to begin with). And on top of that, I've been suffering a severe case of writers block.**

**Now, I could go on for pages about the new season of 24, but because that wouldn't be good for my (or anyone else's) sanity, all I will say is: Must… Have… MORE!!! _–is placed in a straight jacket-_ Haha, MORE! Mwahahaha!! (Apparently my sanity is no longer an issue…)**

**Well this is one long A/N, isn't it? Well, hold on, it gets longer. Anyone heard of this 'Avatar' live-action movie thing? It's being done by the same guy who made 'Lady in the Water' and has been signed to make a trilogy of movies. Anybody else thinks that they are going to ruin a perfectly good show? I sure do. Supposedly, it doesn't follow the show's story line and it's supposed to be a sci-fi/action flick like 'Lord of the Rings.' They're going to ruin the show. That makes me angry.**

**You know what? This A/N is just about a whole page long. Wow. Ok, so we have a long A/N, I'll make a long chapter. I at least owe the people following this story that much. Well, let's wrap it up.**

**I don't own Avatar.**

**Ch.24**

"So, where are we looking first?" Katara asked as they began to search for their friends (for the second time, but this was only the first time they actually heeded it any attention).

"Inland. They'll stay away from the beaches; Toph can't see there and Sokka knows better than to camp out somewhere where they can be seen." Aang grabbed his glider, which was leaning against the tent, as they walked past it. "Keep an eye open for boulders and rubble; it could have been Toph earthbending."

"Hmm," Katara hummed thoughtfully, a bit of a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "You sound more prepared than you did yesterday."

Aang gave her his traditional wide grin. "I don't think either of us were really giving it our full effort," His eyes returned to the trail they were walking on. He noticed it was the same path they took when they began their 'search' yesterday. He smiled as he recognized a familiar landmark. "I mean, I'm pretty sure _your _attention was somewhere at that tree." He motioned towards a tree coming up on their right side, the same tree Katara had forced him against and took the opportunity to kiss him ferociously.

Katara smiled and blushed, keeping her eyes glued to the trail on which she walked. "And _your_ attention wasn't?"

Aang blushed as well but cast a glance at the tree as they walked past it. "No, it just took me a few seconds to catch up is all. You kinda took me off-guard; my mind was still somewhere around 'entering the spirit world…'"

Katara's face grew red once again at remembering exactly what she had done to get Aang to stop his ranting. She refrained from making eye contact and stayed focused on the trees and bushes ahead of her. Unfortunately, looking at trees only recreated the previous day's events in her mind, and looking at it from a third person perspective made it all seem much more… provocative than she had first thought it to be.

As the kiss played itself over and over in her mind, Katara found herself blushing more and more. She had harshly and strongly grabbed Aang by his collar and pushed him against the nearest tree, only to bring her own lips violently crashing down over his. Just a few days ago, that alone would have been enough of a suggestion to send her into an endless train of daydreams and fantasies, but wait, just yesterday, during that same kiss, she did something that she didn't even think herself capable of doing. When Aang was backed against the tree, she pressed the whole of her body, her entire body, into Aang, and in turn, feeling all of Aang against her. His every bump and ripple_ (and something that she would never mention until they were married)_; every square inch of his body. Not only that, but in that action, she had practically thrown herself onto him, and she could tell that he was noticing certain parts of her anatomy as well.

Events such as those carried far past any simple daydreams about her crush; imagining doing something like that was what led to the much more interesting and mature thoughts that she noticed were becoming harder and harder to repress. She blamed it on puberty.

But what seemed to irritate her most was that she had done that action on impulse, without thought, and carried through with it, all while maintaining her equanimity, and now, by simply thinking about it, her face rapidly gains several shades of pinks and reds.

"Ugh!!" She grumbled, seemingly coming out of nowhere. "When did I get so… blushy?"

Aang, who didn't understand the origin of this question because he himself had been too focused on keeping his eyes in-front of him as he tried to work his blush away, realized after she said it that he had been blushing an unreasonably large amount as well when the subject of the tree came up. Not taking into consideration that this question could have been rhetorical, he responded.

"I guess around the same time I did." In truth, he didn't really know when that was, but the only possible events that could have caused it were the telling of their new 'mission,' or one of the events of the previous night… And he blushed again.

"When was that?" Katara asked him, now looking him in the face, just barely a remnant of reddish color on her cheeks.

When Aang thought again on what occurrence could have led to this outbreak of feeling embarrassed and flushed, his blush intensified when he once again thought about… last night.

He was now pretty much satisfied that the source of all this blushing was the highly embarrassing and shameful… and for some reason pleasurable thought of what was about to occur on the beach the previous evening. But now that he knew what was causing it, he was unsure as to whether or not to bring it up. They both made it clear that it's something that they want forgotten; something that they would rather regard as a careless accident and dismiss it just as quickly. Long story short, it was dreadfully uncomfortable to talk about.

However, the more he thought on it, the more it all made sense. Just after… _that _happened, they were both too embarrassed to say anything. And even after that, all they could come up with was 'we'll be more careful.' Perhaps all this blushing was because they hadn't spoken about what was _really_ making them red in the face.

Thinking that the potential benefits outweighed whatever bad consequences this conversation would create, he decided to try and proceed and answer her question.

"I'd have to say… last night." He was careful to leave the interpretation of 'last night' up in the air; this wasn't a subject that they could just dive right into.

Katara's eyes widened slightly and she just barely straightened her posture. "Last night… as in the tent last night…" Her whole upper body flared into a light-ish shade of red. "…Or the _other _last night?"

_Well, she asked… _"Umm… other."

Katara's blush gained a few darker shades. For a moment, the only thing she could think to say was "Oh."

It made sense to her; they hadn't really talked about it much. And she knew that she had _many _more things on her mind about _that_ than what was discussed once they returned to camp. And several of these thoughts were exactly the kind that made her blush.

Treading into uncharted territory, she hesitantly continued.

"Should we talk about it?" She asked earnestly, not really knowing whether they should or shouldn't. One theory was that it would help… but of course the other theory was that it could all just get worse.

"I- uhh… I guess. I mean, are we supposed to?" Well, Aang _had _been a monk, after all, and he really didn't know _what_ they were supposed to do in this certain type of situation.

Katara shrugged as an answer. She may not have been a monk, but this was a first-time experience for her as well.

"Maybe. It might help us feel more… normal." She supplied. Katara suspected that getting this thing off her chest might help with whatever is causing all these blushes. _But… _what she wants to get off her chest will be _very _embarrassing to say out loud.

Aang nodded slowly, scared about what kind of reaction he would receive when he lets the worst of it out in the open.

"Okay…" He began, waiting for something to fill the silence. "Umm, who's going first?"

More silence. Each of them was waiting for the other to say _'I'll go._' After prolonging the silence long enough, Aang got too impatient to keep waiting. But so did Katara.

"I'll go first." They both said at the same time, their words synchronized down to the millisecond. They laughed softly and nervously and once again waited for the other to speak.

"Uhh… You said you wanted to go first?" Aang asked, grateful for the short amount of time he had been granted.

"Oh… uh," Katara began to blush. Again. "So did you."

"Yeah, but," Aang began to fumble nervously with his hands. "You know, ladies first and all, right?"

Katara laughed openly at his foolishness. "Fine," After her laughter receded, she was left with a face of seriousness, with just a smattering of worry. "Just promise me that you'll try to understand."

"Can't be any worse than what I have to say." He muttered.

That didn't really help her much. Well, at least she could take comfort in knowing that his confession would be as hard to say as hers.

"Okay… well, remember last night when you said that up to the point we realized what we were doing, you were enjoying all of it?"

Aang nodded mutely.

"And then I said I felt the same way…"

"Right…"

"Well, the thing is…" Her face regained its reddish hue and she lowered her head in embarrassment, choosing to stare at the floor as she turned over some dirt with her foot. "You see, while a part of me was glad that we ended it before anything happened… there was this other part of me that didn't want to stop. I mean, I knew the consequences and I knew that it was wrong… but… I don't know, it just felt so… _good_."

She paused for a moment to take a brief look at Aang and see if she could determine what he was thinking, but he just looked… interested?

"I know that it's probably wrong to think like that but a part of me really likes the idea of going through with it."

More silence followed. Katara looked up through her eyelashes to see if Aang had changed expressions or anything, but there he was, wearing the same fascinated appearance.

"So I guess what I'm trying to say is… I don't even know what I'm trying to say. I just hoped that I could say this all out loud and you wouldn't think of me any differently."

Yet more silence ensued. At first Katara was too ashamed to look up, but curiosity got the best of her and she tilted her head upwards slightly to see why Aang hadn't said anything.

And there he was, his attention still completely focused on her and her small speech/confession. What he did next, Katara _definantly_ wasn't expecting as a response to all of this. For some odd reason, his mouth began to curl into a small smile.

"I know that this probably isn't the best thing to do after all of that, but," He leaned in and gently placed his lips over hers, kissing her softly, letting it linger for just a second or two.

"Do you have any idea how much I love you?" He asked quietly, almost in a whisper once he pulled away.

Katara looked… confused, to say the least.

Aang smiled again and laced his hand with hers. "Katara, you _never _have to worry about me thinking any less of you. It's not gonna happen. I'll always love you, no matter what."

Katara always found that Aang's smiles were contagious, and this was no exception. She felt the happy and relieved grin on her face as she pulled Aang into a hug.

"Thank you." She whispered. She honestly didn't know why she was all that worried in the first place. Aang had taken several opportunities to remind her just how much he cared for her, and after thinking back on them, she had trouble thinking of why he'd even have a problem with all of this. It was made clear that the word 'Love' doesn't do justice to how much he cares for her, so why would any of this be a problem?

Aang didn't really know how to react to her 'thank you;' a 'you're welcome' didn't seem too fitting _(And somewhere, in the back of his mind, he questioned when he began to think before speaking, and where that skill was not too long ago when he was talking about having children)_. So he decided on keeping the silence and he hugged her just a little tighter.

After a little swaying back and forth and the exchange of a few light kisses, they came to realize that they needed to continue their search for Sokka and Toph. They separated, though they took their time, and returned to walking about in hopes of finding the warrior and the earthbender. But, it wasn't long before Katara realized…

"Hey, you didn't tell me what you wanted to say." Her voice carried a tone of mock accusation.

Aang laughed nervously. "No, I guess I didn't," He absently reached up to rub the back of his neck. "Well, you… uh, kinda said it for me."

Katara couldn't keep the smile off her face. "You feel the same way?"

"You didn't expect me to?" He countered with his own question and a laugh. He was thankful when he realized that he wasn't blushing anymore. "I'm a guy. I think I'm supposed to feel that way," His smile and light laughter faded when he realized what he said. "Umm, is that ok with you?"

Katara took her turn at laughter. "Of course it is. I'll always love you," She mimicked him before giving him a quick peck on the lips. "No matter what."

Aang smiled softly. "Thank you," He imitated her as well. He brought up one of her hands that was laced with his and kissed it. With a sigh, he lowered it, and they continued their search.

"So we both want… _that,_" Katara mused aloud, a smile forming when she realized that there was no blush on her face. "But we can't. Not yet." She turned her head to look at her beloved. "What's that make us?"

Aang shrugged. "Perverted?"

She couldn't hold in the laughter after that comment left his lips. "I was thinking something more along the lines of 'human,' Aang."

Aang smiled and simply shrugged again. "Well, in that case, we're going to need to be less '_human' _once we find Sokka and Toph."

"Agreed," Katara quickly concurred. She didn't know what in the world she would do to keep the situation under control if her brother accidentally walked in on the two of them nearly going over the edge again.

After a little bit of silence Aang worriedly realized exactly what he had said. "But, you know, that doesn't mean that we have to stop _entirely_…"

A smile returned to her features as she stopped walking and turned to face him. She slipped her hand behind his neck and drew him closer to her. At first she just barely brushed her lips against his, but then she dipped her head back towards him and gently took Aang's lower lip between hers. And just like that, she pulled away. The kiss was short, but it conveyed her thoughts well enough.

"I wasn't intending to." Katara replied quietly, in a tempting _(almost seductive)_ voice, still standing close to him. He was smiling widely and reached out to her hips, holding them in a gentle squeeze as he gradually pulled her closer to him.

Katara's hands found themselves at his shoulders, slowly working their way down until they eventually came to rest on his forearms.

With her body flush against his, she closed her eyes and buried her head in the crook of his neck, taking in a soft whiff. The feeling of her hair splayed out, cascading over him _(because it was still out of its traditional braid and hair loops from the previous night)_ combined with the sensation of her slow inhale on his neck forced him to bite his lip to keep himself from kissing her in a more-than-innocent way. In trying to keep his resolve and stop himself from creating something more, the hands at her hips gripped just a little tighter, as if trying to anchor himself to his current state of mind, which was _(for the most part)_ fully in control of his actions.

Katara felt his hold on her tighten slightly, but she mistook this as a sign of encouragement. So, with her head still in the crook of his neck, she placed a small kiss at the base, and then gently bit down and sucked on the soft flesh. Her hands took to slowly traveling up and down his arms.

All the tenacity left in Aang's body had just been thrown out the proverbial window. Of course, he said that they didn't have to stop doing this entirely, but after all this talk about wanting… _that_, this didn't really seem like the appropriate time for such a thing. But, his drive failed, and he fell victim to the sensation of Katara's tongue flick over the spot on his neck which she had bitten. With a sigh of resignation, he nudged her head off of his neck and he began to lean towards her lips…

…That is, until they both heard a thud coming from the direction of some undergrowth. Their heads simultaneously turned towards the sound.

Aang's eyebrows furrowed. "That's the second time I hear something while we're doing… this."

**Well, I bet you'll _never_ guess who that is! –cough-**

**So… How was it? I hope my time away from here hasn't made my writing suck.**

**There's not nearly as much crap to jam in here as there is in the first A/N. Well, if things go according to plan (and they almost never do), there might be 2 other chapters: the next will be a Sokka and Toph thing (yes, I'll actually include Sokka this time), and the second would be them finding each other and getting off the island. If there's a third one… then I need to manage my ideas better.**


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